08:00 – I didn’t quite finish building the biology kits yesterday, but I’ll get that done today. Fortunately so, because I have outstanding orders to fill today.
The US MSM has paid little attention to the seismic shift in European politics over the last week. Embarrassingly, UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s Tories finished third in the EU elections, far behind the UK Independence Party (UKIP; think the British version of the Tea Party). The Tories even managed to finish slightly behind Labour. But it’s not just the UK. Voters in most EU countries voted heavily for Eurosceptic parties. In France, voters’ rejection of Hollande’s Socialists was stunning, with Marine Le Pen’s Front National (FN; think the French version of the Tea Party) essentially sweeping the election.
These elections bode ill for the EU in general and the euro in particular. Here’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard’s take: Europe has an even bigger crisis on its hands than a British exit FTA:
If Europe’s policy elites could not quite believe it before, they must now know beyond much doubt that they have lost Britain. This island is no longer part of the European project in any meaningful sense.
British defenders of the status quo were knouted on Sunday. UKIP won 27.5pc of the vote, or 29pc after adjusting for the negligence – or worse – of the Electoral Commission in allowing a spoiler party with much the same name to sow confusion. Margaret Thatcher’s Tory children are scarcely more friendly to the EU enterprise.
Yeah, it’s quite a cosmic concept: Lots of anti-EU types are now members of the European parliament. Just what that will mean, in practical, terms, will be very interesting indeed…
The problem with the parties is that many of them are fruitcakes. Just as an example, something like 10% of the Greek vote went to the neo-nazis. Madame Le Pen in France has put a more intelligent mask over the far-right fruitcake party that used to be led by her father, but they are still just as out of touch with reality. It’s all part of a general movement in lots of countries: focusing on foreigners as the source of domestic problems; but, of course, everyone is someone else’s foreigner.
Meanwhile, the EU central bank is floating trial balloons to see how people react to the idea of negative interest rates. That’s going to work well…
Yeah, basically voters in first-world European countries are sick and tired of free immigration from third-world countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. That’s natural enough, given that many EU countries have unemployment on a Great Depression level and that even those who are employed resent “welfare tourists”. It would help a bit if these immigrants at least tried to assimilate, but of course very few do. In particular, the islamics are already a serious problem and one that’s getting worse every month.
But, as I’ve been saying for years, the euro isn’t the real problem. Yes, it was and is a hideously bad idea and one that was doomed from the start. But the real underlying problem isn’t the euro. It’s the European social welfare state that’s driven these nations into bankruptcy. Even the ones that many consider to be in relatively good shape are in fact moribund, and that most definitely includes Germany.
Agreed on the social welfare leviathan as a primary cause, but also the issues of nationality, ethnicity, race and culture; they’re tired of being forcibly mashed together with people who have zero intention of ever assimilating, who suck like leeches on the State’s benefits, and who crap all over the existing citizens.
We’ll start to see some more visible changes and reactions when Golden Dawn and Jobbik start getting a lot more votes, too; just a tad more radical than our own turncoat “Tea Party” clowns, losers and buffoons. They only care about their financials and screw everything else, and once they get to Mordor and inhale the toxic vapors there and get invited to all the swell parties, they roll over.
So Europe will start sending all the islamists back to their own countries soon? That will not go well. I foresee cattle cars on trains and such.
Hey, Texas is a big time Tea Party state! The Tea Party here is rolling over all of the local parties. Ted Cruz appears to be the leader but Governor Perry may upstage him.
Knouted is a new word for me. Oh, nice word.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/knouted
Reminds me of one of my favorite horror books about the quartering and drawing of William Wallace and other lucky people during the English middle ages.
Yes, and it’s properly pronounced kuh-NOUT, just as knight is properly pronounced kuh-NITE. I went to elementary school with a girl named Barbara Knecht, pronounced kuh-NECT, just like “connect”. Periodically, people would pronounce it as “nect”, which annoyed her.
Hey, it turns out she still lives in New Castle, PA, on Graceland Road.
The ReDumblicans want me to contribute $20.14 to get rid of Harry Reid. I wonder what the 14 cents are for. Maybe a penalty for dropping the Party.
What do you mean? The 14 cents are what will go toward de-electing Reid. The $20 is for whatever the RNC wants to use it for.
We have nobody, Tea Party or otherwise. Nobody.
Look to your own, your families, your neighbors, your local communities. Start with what the very late T.S. Eliot and Edmund Burke called the “little platoons.”
Mordor’s days are numbered, but they will wreak havoc before they sink into the mire.
Have a nice day.
Oh. This is what the 14 cents are for:
An estimated 60,000 such children will pour into the United States this year, according to the administration, up from about 6,000 in 2011. Now, Washington is trying to figure out how to pay for their food, housing and transportation once they are taken into custody.
Fourteen cents to feed ’em. $20 for lining ReDumblican pockets.
lol The next social tipping point according to Time rag:
In the beaux-arts lobby of the Nourse Theater in San Francisco, men in deep V-necks and necklaces walk by women with crew cuts and plaid shirts buttoned to the top. Boys carrying pink backpacks kiss on the lips, while long-haired ladies whose sequined tank tops expose broad shoulders snap selfies.
Why worry about our gummint and Euro going down the crapper when transgender peeps are having a crisis.
Now, now, MrAtoz; mustn’t lose respect for differently gendered people who choose to mutilate themselves and cave in to whatever twisted and freakish psychological mess was inflicted on them. And then force the rest of us to celebrate it all and whoop hallelujahs.
First we had “civil unions.” Then “gay marriage.” Now the activists are making noises about the wonderful sorts of love that can be had between children and adults and how it has all been so misunderstood over the centuries. And we have people “marrying” bridges and falling in love with their laptops. Next up: incest, followed by bestiality and necrophilia, in this anything-goes sick culture.
If you express any dismay or dissent over this trend, why then, you are a hater and a bigot.
Can someone please inform me when Western civilization turned into Mirror World, or Bizarro World? Where everything is increasingly the opposite of what it should be??
And then force the rest of us to celebrate it all and whoop hallelujahs.
I don’t have a problem with women roaming around the men’s restroom in this new world. I just step closer to the urinal (and have done so at ball games). But I have a serious problem with some guy roaming around the lady’s room while my lovely bride is there. Or my daughter, niece or granddaughter (none yet but there is always hope). They just enacted this new equal restroom rule rule in Houston and all the guys have to say is that they are transgender and that they are entitled to use the lady’s restroom.
you are a hater and a bigot
Thanks Mr. OFD. Added to my list.
And the national and cultural meltdown continues, always a slippery slope, give-em-an-inch-and-they-take-a-mile, every damn time.
And I’d have a tough time claiming I’m transgender. Maybe if I was a Klingon.
I have absolutely no problem with anything consenting adults want to do with each other. Please note that statement indicates the persons involved are human, mature, and consenting. If some woman want a wife and two husbands, or some guy wants five wives, or some male drag queen wants to have a sexual relationship with his grandfather, then I really don’t care. This sort of thing causes me to lose zero sleep.
This is an interesting cultural/philosophical point. If we separated men’s and women’s lavatories and locker rooms for essentially sexual reasons (which, face it, we did) then if we as a society are going to accept LGBT lifestyles then we should be just as concerned about a man, for example, using the men’s restroom. If we’re not concerned about that then we should not be concerned about a man using the women’s restroom or a woman using the men’s locker room. Either people need divided for sexual behavior reasons or they don’t. We really shouldn’t be discriminating who we divide based on gender but not based on sexual attraction (after all, sexual attraction is why we started segregating men and women centuries ago). So, either integrate all restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms OR demand that all restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms are single user facilities. Anything in-between would be sending a mixed message and not make much logical sense.
And I’d have a tough time claiming I’m transgender. Maybe if I was a Klingon.
You are smaller than Brittney Griner.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittney_Griner
I have absolutely no problem with anything consenting adults want to do with each other.
I do. Wasn’t there some case where a guy wanted to be a cannibal and someone waned to be eaten by cannibal? Surely there is a line there.
I’ve thought a lot about Heinlein’s line marriages in “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”. I have yet to decide if a marriage with five women and eight men, all of various ages is a bad thing. I figure that we will see these next.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Moon-Is-Harsh-Mistress/dp/0312863551/
I highly recommend this book. The books after it get strange, very strange though.
“You are smaller than Brittney Griner.”
Yup, by several inches but I outweigh her substantially and I’m really mean, have a short fuse, and a shotgun. She ain’t gonna force her attentions on ME!
Oh wait–naturally she’s gay and wants to work with children and stop bullying and so on and so on.
She could make lots more money in Star Trek sequels; the hell with b-ball.
“…Please note that statement indicates the persons involved are human, mature, and consenting.”
Been there, done that, long ago, and continuing.
Two words: Slippery. Slope.
And soon the persons involved are not human, not mature and not consenting. But if you express dismay…etc.
Why worry about our gummint and Euro going down the crapper when transgender peeps are having a crisis.
To be fair, I think this says a lot more about Time than about transgender people.
Now, now, MrAtoz; mustn’t lose respect for differently gendered people who choose to mutilate themselves and cave in to whatever twisted and freakish psychological mess was inflicted on them. And then force the rest of us to celebrate it all and whoop hallelujahs.
They’re mostly asking to be tolerated, not celebrated. As for whether they’re a psychological mess… most transgender people I’ve known have been remarkably well-adjusted, given that they were born with a body that didn’t match their brain. Theories that transgenderism is caused by childhood trauma are pretty much discredited. At this point, it seems far likelier that it’s a developmental phenomenon, and that children are pretty much born that way.
Now the activists are making noises about the wonderful sorts of love that can be had between children and adults and how it has all been so misunderstood over the centuries.
LGBT activists are, by and large, just as opposed to that as other normal people. You’ve complained before that people misrepresent the RCC in these matters; do you not worry that you’re making the same mistake about queer people?
But I have a serious problem with some guy roaming around the lady’s room while my lovely bride is there. Or my daughter, niece or granddaughter (none yet but there is always hope). They just enacted this new equal restroom rule rule in Houston and all the guys have to say is that they are transgender and that they are entitled to use the lady’s restroom.
The thing is, though, it’ll be pretty obvious when someone’s just a creepy guy rather than a transgender woman. This is a vanishingly rare occurrence in the first place; when it does happen, people will deal with it by complaining about the creepy pervert hanging out in the bathroom doing creepy, perverted things.
So, either integrate all restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms OR demand that all restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms are single user facilities. Anything in-between would be sending a mixed message and not make much logical sense.
Quite a lot of transgender people actually agree with you there! IMO something in-between still has some advantages: gay people are still a minority, so if you want to separate people according to sexual attraction, doing it by sex is a moderately successful way.
It’s worth pointing out that there are also anatomical reasons that you might want to separate people by sex: women have to sit down to urinate, and the majority of women also need to use cubicles to deal with menstruation.
“…do you not worry that you’re making the same mistake about queer people?”
I’m all for toleration, and like Chad, don’t care much what mature consenting adult humans do in private. And I’m not a doctor or psychologist but I and most folks find the whole concept/idea of transgenderism quite outlandish and have yet to be convinced that it is a medical condition from birth. It also seems like we’re being conditioned to tolerate more and more and more with each decade. Like I said before, I find it a slippery slope, in historical practice.
I was not in favor of conjugal visits for prisoners and my tax money was used to facilitate that anyway, leaving aside for now why we have such a gigantic industrial prison system here and why most of the prisoners are in for non-violent offenses. Now I’m told that more of my taxes will be used for transgender surgery, for the sudden and amazing level of interest in doing that now for some prisoners, who’ve just recently discovered their brain/body disconnect.
But as MrAtoz has pointed out, this is all very small potatoes compared to the huge and vastly more important issues facing us, like the economy tanking, endless wars, and being ruled by demented felons and war criminals and thieves and parasites.
So, either integrate all restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms OR demand that all restrooms, locker rooms, and dressing rooms are single user facilities. Anything in-between would be sending a mixed message and not make much logical sense.
Sounds like more of my tax dollars are getting ready to be stolen. Having individual usage restrooms sounds expensive, especially in large events. Other than port-a-potties which generally do not have hand washing facilities.
I do like all the new “family” restrooms for mom’s dragging around a kid or five.
“Sounds like more of my tax dollars are getting ready to be stolen.”
Welcome to America! And thanks so much for being a bottomless well of ready cash, sir! You can rest assured that your dollars will be spent for the greater good of the Nay-shun and its wonderful people!
Progress, sir, is what it’s all about!
Onward and upward!
“voters in first-world European countries are sick and tired of free immigration from…”
The “from” part is where it gets funny. The UK resents Polish immigrants. Meanwhile, the Poles resent immigration from Bulgaria. All three countries are in the EU, so they are basically resenting each other.
Meanwhile, the reasons for the resentment aren’t always what one thinks. The UK, to take an example I am familiar with, has a problem with the building trades: on the whole, the workers are lazy and do lousy work. I saw an interview with a general contractor on a building site. The journalist accused him of hiring Polish workers because they were cheaper. He said, hell no, it was because he was sick and tired of his fellow Brits knocking off early, leaving their jobs half-done. The Poles did better work, and were more reliable. He was so blunt about it that I remember wondering if his fellow Brits weren’t likely to waylay him in an alley.
Spain, even with its economic problems, is similar. Lots of immigration, but mostly from EU countries (Britain and Germany, along with Romania, Italy and Bulgaria), closely followed by Latin America.
That’s not to say that African immigrants aren’t a problem – they are, but it’s not because of their numbers. It is because they have no education, no job skills and – importantly – no concept of life in Europe. I remember an interview with one woman who had handed all of her possessions over to the smuggler who brought her to Europe. Her big motivation for coming? In Europe, we have these machines in walls that hand out money – she had seen them on television. So she could come here and those machines would make sure she had enough money…
That’s all a long story to agree with what OFD said: The immigration problems are primarily mutual resentment amongst the European countries, due to population movements within Europe. This is a cultural immune reaction: Take any culture, flood it with outsiders, and the local culture suddenly feels threatened. The EU experts really should have foreseen this and put limits on internal migration from the very beginning.
Except that it has been deliberate on the part of the EU and other globalist entities, as it is here. The intent is to destroy local cultures and histories unless they meet globalist standards of minority victimhood, that is, although I get the impression they don’t much care about that, really, either.
eristicist wrote:
“It’s worth pointing out that there are also anatomical reasons that you might want to separate people by sex: women have to sit down to urinate, and the majority of women also need to use cubicles to deal with menstruation.”
I’m told women can pee standing up so I have no problem with them using the Gents. Some of my male relatives attended a car racing event a few years back when a tough looking bird joined them, turned her back to the urinal, dropped her jeans, bent over and let go.
I’ve been in the Gents a number of times only to hear teenage girls giggling and talking in the cubicles, because the queues for the Powder Room are too long for them. But if a guy went in to the Powder Room he’d get 20 years and then life on the sex offenders register.
I’ve never lived anywhere that had separate men’s and women’s bathrooms, so it seems odd to me to have public facilities segregated by sex. It’s also offensively inefficient in terms of space usage and queuing theory.
Chad wrote:
“This is an interesting cultural/philosophical point. If we separated men’s and women’s lavatories and locker rooms for essentially sexual reasons (which, face it, we did) …”
The separation of “Rest Rooms” is all a nefarious Christian plot. Our host used to use unisex bathrooms and showers back in his misspent bohemian youth and blames religion for the continued separation. I wouldn’t care if they were unified, I think most women nowadays wouldn’t like the idea though.
“…it seems odd to me to have public facilities segregated by sex. It’s also offensively inefficient in terms of space usage and queuing theory.”
Amen! Bring it on, I say. Senator Boxer and her cohorts will take over the combined “Restrooms” (do people go there to rest?) and make us guys go behind a tree… 🙂
Which reminds me of Mark Zuckerberg’s comment that his girlfriend (wife?) allow him one drawer and took everything else for herself.
It seems to me that proper public toilets should have one urinal for every (say) six or eight stalls, or whatever mix most efficiently/effectively serves the needs of what mix of men and women typically use the facility. Someone pointed out that when you’re a guy all the world’s a urinal, so just do as the French do and build lots of pissoirs.
Of course this all originated with religion, or, more exactly, Abrahamic religions. The whole idea of considering nudity and sex dirty are indicative of an unhealthy culture, and you can blame all of that on those religions.
And women buy into this much more readily than men do. Not just the taboos against nudity and sex, but religion generally. I remember a conversation Barbara and I had once with Mary and Paul about hot tubs. Paul and I both thought that wearing bathing suits in a hot tub among friends or family was kind of ridiculous, like wearing a bathing suit in the shower, but Mary and Barbara were horrified by the idea of casual nudity in a hot tub among friends. I suppose a lot of that is because women believe they are constantly judged by men based on their appearance, but I suspect most of it is lingering religious taboos.
“but I suspect most of it is lingering religious taboos.”
And I think it’s because of the vast number of sexual assaults committed by men against women. Which don’t go away in non-Abrahamic religions. Witness the recent spate of rapes in India.
“…women believe they are constantly judged by men based on their appearance”
You mean, men aren’t constantly noticing women’s appearance, often in a sexual manner? As far as I can tell, this is hardwired way down deep, at least for most of us. The best we can do is to not be obvious about it…
Eh? What does that have to do with sharing a hot tub with friends?
Directly, not so much, but it’s the root cause of why women want to cover up. I’ve had many naked hot tub experiences with women, and not one of them was platonic. Most women are pretty happy to shed their clothes when they want sex.
Don’t take this too hard, but I submit that Mary doesn’t find you attractive, and Barbara feels the same towards Paul. So the clothes stayed on.
I’ve got a crazy idea. Why don’t you ASK them? What does Mary and Barbara say is the reason?
Of course it’s hardwired. Heterosexual men find women of child-bearing age attractive for the same reason that bees find flowers attractive. And it’s also hardwired for heterosexual women (and perhaps all women) to try to make themselves attractive to men. It’s all about reproduction and survival of the species.
But, as I’ve said repeatedly, the only function of attractiveness in women is to get men’s attention, to draw men close enough to notice that the woman is a good candidate for reproduction, and to notice her less obvious attractive features, things like her pheromones, intelligence, personality, sense of humor, and other things. It’s those other things that hold a man. The only function of physical appearance is to get the man to notice her in the first place.
“Which reminds me of Mark Zuckerberg’s comment that his girlfriend (wife?) allow him one drawer and took everything else for herself.”
Well, that’s all the space we need.
I well remember as an eight year old seeing in to my sister’s clothing and “potions” wardrobe for the first time. I couldn’t believe all the gear she had, all the creams, deodorants, etc, etc, etc.
I’ve always been glad I wasn’t born female.
But if a guy went in to the Powder Room he’d get 20 years and then life on the sex offenders register.
I have done that, once, at Walmart. I had an issue that needed to be solved, quickly. The men’s room was closed for some reason. So it was either the women’s facility or a significant (EPA grade) cleanup on aisle 7.
Personally I see no issue if you are in a stall except you can hear, and smell. Most women think their shit doesn’t stink.
I’ve had many platonic encounters with nude women in hot tubs, not to mention quite a few nude swimming sessions in large groups. Never one-on-one, granted, that’s always non-platonic.
I don’t know how the others feel, but I think Mary is very attractive. Physically, certainly, but that’s honestly the least of it. I like Mary for her intelligence, rigorous honesty, outspokenness, and worldview.
As it happens, I did ask. Barbara and Mary both don’t want men other than their husbands seeing them nude.
Ah, but that doesn’t answer why they don’t want men other than their husbands (and I’m assuming that husband = men they’re attracted to) seeing them nude. Until proven wrong, I’m sticking to my theory about protecting themselves from rape.
I’m really not tracking your argument, Bill. Are you saying that you think Mary believes that if I see her nude I’ll rape her? I certainly hope she doesn’t believe that. I’ve seen many, many women nude, and I’ve never raped a single one of them. Decent men do not rape any woman, let alone women who are their friends. Geez.
Ah, so it’s not religion, but marriage, that makes women coy.
You’ve said that in the early Seventies guys and girls used bathrooms and showered together indifferently, but once they get married women no longer want anyone but their husband to see them naked.
I think Bill isn’t really expressing himself well. I expect he means that it is a subconcious or instinctual kind of thing: not wanting to arouse the attentions of men you don’t want to procreate with.
No, I don’t think Mary thinks you’re a closet rapist, nor do I, and the majority of men aren’t either, but she believes that enough men are to not afford the chance. Therefore women protect themselves against the potential of rape, not merely the chance of rape by a specific person. If you believe the statistics 70% of sexual assaults are by people the victim knows, and half occur on “dates”.
Greg has a point about married women becoming coy(er) after marriage. Once they’ve chosen their mate, their “cards” are taken off the table.
“I think Bill isn’t really expressing himself well. I expect he means that it is a subconcious or instinctual kind of thing: not wanting to arouse the attentions of men you don’t want to procreate with.”
Ding! This is precisely what I’m laboring to say!
On another note, Houston is very close to setting a major weather record (I believe). We have not hit 90 F yet in the month of May. I’m not sure that has ever happened in recorded history. Today’s forecast is 88 F and so is tomorrows. Bring on the year without a summer! Not gonna happen, just wishing.
My swimming pool has overflowed twice now in the last week from all the rain. I mistakenly put in one inch of water last Friday, only to get three inches of rain last Saturday (I believed the forecast of no rain). And then we got another four or five inches on rain on Monday morning. The two ponds on my office property are both caught up and into their overflow channels also. I have one of them blocked with sandbags to get another six inches of water elevation.
On another note, Houston is very close to setting a major weather record
It hit 110 in Vegas on Wed.
Yeah, man, but it’s a dry heat
I agree with Mr. Bill. I’m also not “attracted” to Mr. Bob. lol
Shinseki falls on his sword for Obummer.
“With considerable regret, I accepted,” Obama said. “We don’t have time for distractions,” he added. “We need to fix the problem.”
What’s Obummer been doing for the last 6 years? Sitting on his thumbs!
Why do we need this:
New federal database will track Americans’ credit ratings, other financial information
I can’t tell you how happy I am that neither you nor Bill finds me sexually attractive. But I find it hard to imagine that any woman wouldn’t want to procreate with me. I’m large, strong, and incredibly good looking. And many women have told me spontaneously that my voice attracts them, including some women I’ve never met but merely spoken with on the phone. And did I mention that I can pretend to be sensitive?
You can use your walker for extra endurance sex.
Federal database of credit information, what could go wrong?
I already have trouble with the concept of the credit-reporting agencies. Actually, not so much with them, as with the plain fact that any company has the right to share my financial information with a third party without my permission. I always found that offensive, and now that I am accustomed to Swiss privacy laws, I find it outrageous.
And now the feds want in on the action – great, that’s a database that will be even more impossible to correct, when (not if) incorrect information gets added. And you just know that it will be used for purposes far beyond “reporting”.
112 F is a dry heat!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFelEa8wAIk
But then how do you explain the many cultures where casual nudity is common?
“Toddler hurt in SWAT drug raid in Georgia”
http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Toddler-hurt-in-SWAT-drug-raid-in-Georgia-5516247.php
Just another reason why it is time for the Drug Prohibition to end in the USA.
“What’s Obummer been doing for the last 6 years? Sitting on his thumbs!”
No. Of course not. He’s been greasing the skids more or less continuously for his and the Mooch’s cronies and his bosses on Wall Street. Same as Larry Klinton and his lovely wife Bruno did, same as both Bush regimes did. Only diff is that Barry is a Marxist piece of shit and the Mooch is more radical than that, even. They’re Marxists like the ones that ran the old Soviet Union, Red China, Cuba, North Vietnam, North Korea, etc.; they live like royalty and run their countries into the ground.
Shinseki was a goner, and the only reason it took this long is because it makes Barry look like a dork, appointing the guy in the first place, and the six years that it’s been well-known how bad the VA runs things (though not here in VT, which is great).
“…I find it hard to imagine that any woman wouldn’t want to procreate with me.”
Truly. I imagine, however, that it will be rather difficult to clear with the local authority.
The Fed database? “All you privacy belong to us!”
On the injured toddler, note: The suspect wasn’t home, and they didn’t know this. What, they can’t be bothered to do any sort of observation before throwing grenades into a house?
Anyhow, I am still waiting – it will eventually happen – that police do a “no knock” raid on the wrong person, someone undoubtedly innocent, and wind up six feet under due to clear self-defense.
that police do a “no knock” raid on the wrong person, someone undoubtedly innocent, and wind up six feet under due to clear self-defense.
Unless there are independent witnesses (more than one) with video cameras the police will lie through their teeth to cover their ass it is not ever going to be self defense. It has happened more than once on other cases when the officers lie to protect themselves or another officer, then someone turns up with a video that totally contradicts the officer’s version of what happened.
The good news on these situations is that more and more people are using their phones , iPads, cameras and webcams to record crap like this, which is why the departments are going ballistic on confiscating, doing forensic analysis on, and destroying them. It’s a whole new career slot in police departments now; I missed my calling by about thirty years to get off the streets.
But yes, sooner or later some cops somewhere are gonna hit the wrong address and get blown away in legit self-defense.
Furthermore, the day is coming when their continued depredations on innocent civvies will make them regular targets for reprisals.
I hope not. Unfortunately, cop culture seems to have shifted over the last couple of decades from “Protect and Serve” to “Protect Yourself at All Costs”.
I happen to think that there are a lot of good cops still out there, including some young ones. I don’t think the problem is the street cops themselves. I think it’s the police brass most of the time that causes the problems. That and political correctness and societal pressures that force cops to act against their own instincts. I mean, I’ve yet to have anyone explain credibly why “profiling” is not a Good Thing.
What we’re seeing is the removal of cops’ ability to use their initiative and common sense. Kind of like “zero tolerance” programs in schools, which never end well.
“I think it’s the police brass most of the time that causes the problems.”
Bingo! Always has been. Because at a certain point, they become beholden to local pols and hacks. And I used to see guys hiding and not being available because they were holed up somewhere studying for sergeant and lieutenant exams. Then those assholes become captains and chiefs.
Yes, there are still good cops left, but a lot of the older guys are getting out and some of the younger ones who’ve become disillusioned by what’s going on are also bailing now. And it’s the street cops who mainly support gun rights, too. The remaining huge problem is the Blue Wall of Silence; the bad apples do bad things and everyone else does nothing and says nothing. So there’ll be three guys kicking the shit out of some old vet in a wheelchair or tasing an autistic kid and the others will stand by and whistle, consult their notebooks and cell phones, and the bad guys’ stories will hold up OK.
Yes, removal of initiative and common sense; protection of self at all costs, no matter what; and lethal force as the default response. They basically want robots out there and someday they’ll have them, as has been portrayed in various flicks over the years. The days of Buford Pusser and OFD are long gone, except in remote rural areas, mining camps, and oil fields.