Minneapolis police in the news again

[Pb]

I'd like to hear the medical report about what killed the guy.

If you can say "I can't breathe" then you can breathe. 

I seem to remember the Eric Garner may have died from a heart attack, caused by him being a fat guy being dogpiled, which compressed the chest.

[Jim147]

Let's loot target!

Hard to link from this thing but you can find it.

[Ben]

Let's loot target!

Hard to link from this thing but you can find it.

Makes you just want to hate everyone involved on both sides. Or just hate people. They also apparently destroyed a car with a "Trump" sticker on it and beat the driver.

https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2020/05/27/minneapolis-citizens-protest-the-police-killing-of-george-floyd-by-looting-target/

[cordex]

I'd like to hear the medical report about what killed the guy.

If you can say "I can't breathe" then you can breathe. 

 
It means you have some air left in your lungs, not that you are bringing in sufficient new oxygen to survive.

[kgbsquirrel]

[HankB]

I saw an interview with at least one fairly articulate masked protestor - he said that had HE knelt on someone's neck until they died, he would have been hauled off to jail IMMEDIATELY.

Valid point, IMHO.

Let's loot target!

Why not? POLICE WILL NOT INTERFERE!! TV story said Minneapolis police were AWOL, and some sheriff's police stopped by, looked at the looting, honked their horns, and drove away.   

Why the hell are taxpayers paying these guys?

[dogmush]

What are the police supposed to do?  There nothing they could do to stop the looting that wouldn't make the situation worse.

Don't get me wrong, I think the police have painted themselves into this particular corner with the way they have treated really all non police folks for decades now. Thin blue line goes both ways kiddos. Be that as it may, at this point any use of force or trying to arrest looters is likely to just inflame them, and may very well end up with more bodies.

[makattak]

What are the police supposed to do?  There nothing they could do to stop the looting that wouldn't make the situation worse.

Don't get me wrong, I think the police have painted themselves into this particular corner with the way they have treated really all non police folks for decades now. Thin blue line goes both ways kiddos. Be that as it may, at this point any use of force or trying to arrest looters is likely to just inflame them, and may very well end up with more bodies.

Plus, it's Target. This is exactly what their company wants from the government, so I'm honestly not all that bothered by their just desserts.

[Ben]

Rioting has greatly escalated. People protecting a business have been labeled "vigilantes". One store owner apparently shot a looter. We'll see what the justice system does with him.

Even though I believe the officers should be fully investigated and prosecuted if the evidence leads to that, whenever I see this kind of looting and rioting I just want to say, "screw it". The same way many black people label all whites as racists, I want to just say, "I guess black people have it coming". I hate the road blocking stuff that BLM always does, but at least I can connect it to an actual event that the protestors believe in. This looting stuff is some black people using a black person's death to get a free TV. Shoot on sight.

If they want to get tough, instead of looting and destroying the property of innocent people, go riot and loot at City Hall and police stations.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/armed-citizens-guard-stores-amid-looting-in-minneapolis-report

“These guys are out here with machetes, with shattered windows trying to keep looters out because cops can’t get in here,” one of the armed men said. “So I figured before there were cops, there were Americans. So here we are.”

Also:

https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/05/28/woman-in-a-wheelchair-possibly-armed-with-a-knife-attacked-inside-of-minneapolis-target-during-last-nights-riot/

[MechAg94]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgghI3WPSLw
George Floyd police breakdown with Donut Operator. 

I didn't know Floyd was taken into custody for passing fake $10 bills.  Donut doesn't have kind things to say about the police involved.  He includes a video from another guy on the responsibilities of police officers. 

[makattak]

https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/27/new-video-shows-moments-george-floyd-pinned-on-ground/

Two pertinent facts I noticed from this video.

1) Mr. Floyd was already handcuffed before they murdered* him. Which means that having 3 men hold him down was not necessary to "control" him.

2) The lead murderer was not involved in the initial encounter. His anger at having his "AUTHORITAH" ignored was not from a lengthy struggle.  







*Others have objected to this formulation, but, while I don't know Minnesota statutes, I'm betting "Depraved Indifference" or the like will still qualify as murder.  EDIT: Oh, hey, look at this: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/609.195 I'm exactly right.

[dogmush]

Seems like we need to get the folks in Minneapolis some AR's and body armor. Apparently that leads to a calmer protest on all sides.

[French G.]

This is Biden’s election. We turn this up to 11, forget the stupid crap he said, his lifetime of support for dubious crime policies, ignore anything like Harris’s record on crime and get them elected because racist trump. Oh, and ignore all the riots during the reign of the great healer too.

[lupinus]

Rioting has greatly escalated. People protecting a business have been labeled "vigilantes". One store owner apparently shot a looter. We'll see what the justice system does with him.

Even though I believe the officers should be fully investigated and prosecuted if the evidence leads to that, whenever I see this kind of looting and rioting I just want to say, "screw it". The same way many black people label all whites as racists, I want to just say, "I guess black people have it coming". I hate the road blocking stuff that BLM always does, but at least I can connect it to an actual event that the protestors believe in. This looting stuff is some black people using a black person's death to get a free TV. Shoot on sight.

If they want to get tough, instead of looting and destroying the property of innocent people, go riot and loot at City Hall and police stations.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/armed-citizens-guard-stores-amid-looting-in-minneapolis-report

Also:

https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2020/05/28/woman-in-a-wheelchair-possibly-armed-with-a-knife-attacked-inside-of-minneapolis-target-during-last-nights-riot/

Understand that I don't support riots, looting, burning, etc. It's stupid and they should be letting the courts do their thing, but I am gonna somewhat play devils advocate for just a moment.

Given the state of things if a cop, a set of cops, is going to be so damn stupid as to on video and with witnesses flat out murder someone, in a slow and agonizing way as essentially suffocating them, the results should in no way shape or form be surprising. Acceptable? Again no, not at all. The animals are being animals, and surprising or not a dangerous animal is never acceptable to have close to the homestead. But at the same time, don't go out of your way to rile up the freaking animals and send them stampeding.

[Jocassee]

Understand that I don't support riots, looting, burning, etc. It's stupid and they should be letting the courts do their thing, but I am gonna somewhat play devils advocate for just a moment.

Given the state of things if a cop, a set of cops, is going to be so damn stupid as to on video and with witnesses flat out murder someone, in a slow and agonizing way as essentially suffocating them, the results should in no way shape or form be surprising. Acceptable? Again no, not at all. The animals are being animals, and surprising or not a dangerous animal is never acceptable to have close to the homestead. But at the same time, don't go out of your way to rile up the freaking animals and send them stampeding.

This is the reality on the ground and we should all be acting as though it is the reality. That includes cops. ESPECIALLY cops.

None of the cops in this video had the common sense God gave a bunny rabbit.

[grampster]

The defenders of freedom and minorities...the Democrats...should ride in and take over the government of the city of Minneapolis so that they can hire a believer in diversity police chief and better train an intersectionality of Minneapolis poli....Oh, wait...Minneapolis has been governed by Democrats since, well, nearly forever and it has been Democrats who appointed the police chief (s).   You reap as you sow.

[MechAg94]

The defenders of freedom and minorities...the Democrats...should ride in and take over the government of the city of Minneapolis so that they can hire a believer in diversity police chief and better train an intersectionality of Minneapolis poli....Oh, wait...Minneapolis has been governed by Democrats since, well, nearly forever and it has been Democrats who appointed the police chief (s).   You reap as you sow.

Democrat Governor also. 

[Viking]

This doesn´t merely look "bad". It looks absolutely horrendous, and my snap judgement is that all of them need to serve some very long time behind bars to various degrees.

[lupinus]

The defenders of freedom and minorities...the Democrats...should ride in and take over the government of the city of Minneapolis so that they can hire a believer in diversity police chief and better train an intersectionality of Minneapolis poli....Oh, wait...Minneapolis has been governed by Democrats since, well, nearly forever and it has been Democrats who appointed the police chief (s).   You reap as you sow.

Excuse me while I adjust my devil's advocate hat a tad...there we go

This isn't a Democrat or Republican, Right or Left, Black or White issue. This is a jackboot respect my authorita and if you wont I'll make it hurt issue, if the crowd won't then I'll make it hurt some more to put on a show and prove a point issue. And because fellow cops won't toss budding abusive psychopaths who get an authority hard on out before they step up their game thin blue line issue.

*expletive deleted*ck that. I support cops. GOOD cops. And when good cops do something justified and the animals get riled up about it, I couldnt care less how much of the annual year gas budget get tossed downrange for funsies.

But good cops don't do stupid *expletive deleted*it like this. Good cops don't dog pile a guy who's only resisting because you're quite literally murdering him.

Yes, I vehemently disagree with burning and looting. It's criminal, it's stupid, and it's pointless. But outrage over this kind of conduct didn't happen over night, it's been building quite literally for decades. And unfortunately, I really don't find myself able to get overly pissed off at the animals for a change. Let the business owners send a bill to the city for having an environment where animals like those four cops were allowed to thrive till they up and killed someone.

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[Ben]

Yes, I vehemently disagree with burning and looting. It's criminal, it's stupid, and it's pointless. But outrage over this kind of conduct didn't happen over night, it's been building quite literally for decades. And unfortunately, I really don't find myself able to get overly pissed off at the animals for a change. Let the business owners send a bill to the city for having an environment where animals like those four cops were allowed to thrive till they up and killed someone.

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Yeah, but the city will use its many on-retainer attorneys to outspend the innocent people trying to recoup their losses. That's not just the Targets and the Autozones, that's also the lady in the wheelchair and the guy who got beat up because of his "Trump" bumper sticker.

I just can't work up any sympathy or justification for looters destroying innocent businesses and harming innocent people. Take it out on your aggressor. Steal liquor and TVs because a man's death is your opportunity to do so, and you deserve to be shot in the face.

[dogmush]

I support some individual police officers, if I know them personally.  I am finding it harder and harder to support "Law Enforcement" and I don't support any Law Enforcement Agencies I can think of.  Between the seemingly never ending series of throwing their weight around and accidentally killing suspects, kicking in doors and shooting people at 0-dark-30, rolling in MRAPs whenever they have an excuse like they are military, and happily following blatantly unconstitutional orders during COVID cops no longer get the benefit of the doubt from me.  Prove to me you are a moral person that happens to be a cop, and I'll support you.  Until then I will assume you are a thug that will take my freedoms or maybe kill me without recourse.  AS Terry might say: It ain't the odds, it's the stakes.

On the riots and looting?  I'm pretty meh.  That's not how I would handle this situation were it in my community, but folks are getting killed with regularity, and while these cops might face real consequences, we all know that is a rarity.  The folks in that community probably have many more stories of thuggery by cops that didn't make national news, no trust in the justice system to make it right, and no trust in the authorities to stop it with anything more then the barest of lip service, and I can't say I blame them or find fault in those assumptions.

They are angry, scared, and hopeless and a bunch have clearly entered the "burn it all down" phase.  Like I said, that's not how I would handle it, but I see where they are coming from.

If they had the cultural background (and weapons) we do, they'd be in city hall with AR's demanding blood, and I wouldn't blame them there either.

[zxcvbob]

On the riots and looting?  I'm pretty meh.  That's not how I would handle this situation were it in my community, but folks are getting killed with regularity, and while these cops might face real consequences, we all know that is a rarity.  The folks in that community probably have many more stories of thuggery by cops that didn't make national news, no trust in the justice system to make it right, and no trust in the authorities to stop it with anything more then the barest of lip service, and I can't say I blame them or find fault in those assumptions.

They are angry, scared, and hopeless and a bunch have clearly entered the "burn it all down" phase.  Like I said, that's not how I would handle it, but I see where they are coming from.

If they had the cultural background (and weapons) we do, they'd be in city hall with AR's demanding blood, and I wouldn't blame them there either.

So burn down a police station, don't use it as an excuse to rob a liquor store or steal a TV or high-priced tennis shoes.  Next thing you know they will rob a Church's Fried Chicken.  Or burn down a watermelon farm.  It's like they are trying to reenforce their worst stereotypes.  You don't gain sympathy for your cause that way; instead you squander what sympathy you had already.

Next they will be whining about "food deserts" and businesses not willing to open in their neighborhoods because racism.  No, its because you ran off the stores that were there.

Okay, the watermelon farm was a bit much.  I know there are no farms in the big city.  A watermelon stand, maybe.

[lupinus]

You assume they give a flip about your sympathy. As dogmush said, they're in burn it all down mode.

Is it right? No. Am I going to cry if someone shoots a looter in the face that tries breaking into their store? Hell no.

But at the same time, this has been building and largely ignored for decades. When you rule up the animals I loose a lot of my give a *expletive deleted*ck. The individuals caught in the middle and store owners and such? Absolutely I feel for em, and again I'm not gonna she'd a year if they pop a looter. But the local police and government that have to deal with said mess? I'm severely lacking and sympathy on this one.

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[dogmush]

So burn down a police station, don't use it as an excuse to rob a liquor store or steal a TV or high-priced tennis shoes.  Next thing you know they will rob a Church's Fried Chicken.  Or burn down a watermelon farm.  It's like they are trying to reenforce their worst stereotypes.  You don't gain sympathy for your cause that way; instead you squander what sympathy you had already.

Next they will be whining about "food deserts" and businesses not willing to open in their neighborhoods because racism.  No, its because you ran off the stores that were there.

Okay, the watermelon farm was a bit much.  I know there are no farms in the big city.  A watermelon stand, maybe.

1. I said that's not the route I would take.

2. It does not look to me like they are trying to gain sympathy for their cause.  All my white friends are projecting that on to rioters, because that seems sensible, but from observation, the folks rioting and looting aren't trying to gain sympathy for anything, because they don't think they'll get it.  They are angry and lashing out.  FWIW, they aren't really wrong.  We've seen in the past quite a few more traditional, peaceful protests against the police, and those didn't get *expletive deleted*it except Karen's posting on Facebook "#BLM" and wearing pins.

TL:DR: They aren't trying to fix *expletive deleted*it.  They are trying to burn *expletive deleted*it, and accomplishing it handily.

[Ben]

Is it right? No. Am I going to cry if someone shoots a looter in the face that tries breaking into their store? Hell no.

A problem is, what will happen to the people that defend their homes and businesses? When this crap happens, those people won't be tried in a court of law, they will be tried in a court of emotion along with  "the looters had justification". Al Sharpton will be sitting in the courtroom calling for hate murder charges.

Half these looters have big smiles on their faces. They are not protesting or angry. They are opportunists taking advantage of Floyd's death. If people defending themselves and their property were to have no fear of prosecution, hey, try and loot away if you can survive it. Let Darwin sort 'em out.