So I have some thoughts on this one. I'll just go in no particular order:
These guys were not your rural county sheriff's deputies, they were NYPD. NYPD is the agency which brought you stop-and-frisk, which enforces the SAFE Act, which serves as tax collector/enforcer for some of the highest sin taxes in the country, etc. - and one of their officers just got by with not only no punishment but no charges after using a chokehold, which is expressly forbidden by department policy, which caused the death of a man accused of dodging cigarette taxes, the usual punishment for which is a fine. The guy who recorded that killing, though? He got extra-special attention for a couple of weeks until he, too, was arrested... for a gun "crime". There are few clearer examples of jack-booted Stasi thuggery in the country than NYPD.
If the order ever comes to "Mr. and Mrs. America, turn in your guns", these guys will be the ones knocking on your doors. They are part of the standing domestic army the founders warned about.
How bad does it have to get before you all start viewing these guys differently? At what point does the murder of a police officer become self-defense against a violent oppressor? Would it have been excusable in Poland, occupied France, Nazi Germany... Afghanistan?
http://youtu.be/KQ9w1HHRMQwThe police have chosen again and again to stand with their own, to never accept responsibility for harm or death, to take ever more aggressive actions as a matter of course rather than a last resort. They shoot pets for kicks. They imprison, beat, and sometimes kill people who have committed no real harm. They accept strings-attached grants of BEARCATs and MRAPs, automatic weapons, drones. Their unions secure back pay, benefits, reintatemement and pensions for habitually violent and corrupt cops.
It is becoming increasingly clear who they protect and who they serve. The policeman is not your friend. The police(as a whole) are America's biggest, best-armed, most violent gang, and people are starting to figure that out.
Options for restraining police are few and constantly diminishing. The grand jury is supposed to provide a measure of power to the citizenry, but the process has been so completely perverted that it's now nothing more than a show. The courts, much of whose funding comes from collections of police-issued fines, continue to affirm and uphold the increasingly aggressive policies anc tactics of police - and the few cases where police are found at fault invariably result in sentences far, far lighter than would be issued against you and I. Often we see suspended sentences or probation rather than actual jailtime. The lawmakers, whose power is derived exclusively from police enforcement, make mouth noises but really can do nothing meaningful. The President proposes to use more federal money(i.e. money borrowed against our grandchildren's names) to outfit police with body cameras. Which have "off" buttons. The police themselves? We know what happens to cops who break ranks and attempt to make arrests on bad cops. They are shunned, threatened(professionally and personally), stuck on crappy shifts, fired. Is it any shock that people see the gun as their only option?
Having said all of that, I'm sure I have to come right out and say it: I don't support or excuse these killings. To punish one for the sins of another is wrong. One must admit, though, that the lines of right and wrong(legal and illegal be damned) are becoming quite blurry these days with respect to the police.
I am heartened by what I see of the Oath Keepers, particularly of their actions in Ferguson. There truly are people who believe that their job is to protect people and property and to keep the peace, and I was mightily impressed by their laughing in the face of Ferguson PD's threat to arrest them for operating without a permit.
Food for thought. If you think I'm wrong, call me out. Use reason. Consider, though, that most folks here decry the trend of militarization and the lack of accountability. Many discussions have been had on tipping points, lines in the sand, and so forth. I really want you all to consider the fact that this is not happening to the guys from Dragnet and The Andy Griffith Show. It's happening to NYPD.
