09:19 – I’m sure it will never occur to the NYC mayor to wonder what part his public statements played in the murder of two NYPD officers yesterday. With the media and far too many politicians trying to make cops the bad guys, I have to wonder how much longer those cops will be willing to continue doing their jobs. Who could blame them for going on strike or simply refusing to patrol underclass areas?
I think what we’re watching is the opening of the war of the underclass on civilization. I’m halfway inclined to hope they win. Give them what they apparently want and see how they like it when the police, fire departments, and other government services abandon the inner cities completely and let gang rule take their place. Pull that thin blue line back to encircle and contain the inner cities rather than attempting to protect them. I’m sure the cops will be a lot happier and a lot safer protecting people who appreciate what they do instead of shooting at them.
11:24 – We just got back from Sam’s Club, probably the smallest Sam’s/Costco run we’ve done in 10 years or more. The total was only $151, and most of that was frozen foods. Almost no shelf-stable foods, with the exception of two 52-ounce cans of dry-roasted peanuts, two six-packs of Campbell chunky soups, and two half-gallon jugs of pancake syrup. Unless you count the 15-pack of Ritz crackers or the can of Country Time lemonade powder sufficient to make 32 liters.
Barbara also ran in the pet store to pick up a bag of dog food, some Milk-bone dog biscuits, and a new Nyla-Bone chew toy for Colin. I noticed that the packaging of the chew toy warned, “Not for Powerful Chewers”, so technically we shouldn’t give it to Colin. He’s an extraordinarily powerful chewer. As a matter of fact, if they’d had Colin boring the tunnel for the Big Dig project in Boston, it would probably have come in ahead of schedule and under budget.
Yesterday, Saturday, the officers who are supposed to be “watching” Rahm Emanuel’s (Chicago Mayor, bosom buddy of Obummer) were conspicuously absent while his son was mugged outside the family home.
Anybody see the video of de Blasio walking into last night’s news conference and the all the NYPD Officers turned their back on him. I am sure he is feeling real safe, after all he just had the city build a higher fence around his house.
Yes, the politicians brought this on themselves, the cops and us. But the cops are not as pure as the driven snow here; did they really, seriously??? have to bust the perp selling untaxed ciggies in the first place down there? Four or five guys to do that gig? C’mon. Of course he should have just complied and cooperated; he ought to have known that anything less is a potential death sentence on the spot. Was it absolutely critical for that cop out in Missouri to keep escalating his encounter with a typical local thug walking in the middle of the street? And could he not control that encounter with less than lethal force?? Again, shitty training nowadays. I dealt with those kinds of incidents all the time back in the day without killing anybody, WTF?
But sure, I’d gladly hang the perps, hang the gangbangers, etc., so long as we can also hang the mayor down there and his minions and the police brass. Plenty of blame to go around; and that “thin blue line” is gonna start playing a dangerous game; turn your backs on the political leadership and go your own way and thus threaten them, and they may cave for a while, but sooner or later they can stop those pay checks, too.
I don’t think any of us hold the street cops blameless, but I’d certainly put them far down the list. In the Garner case, I don’t blame the cops that were there. They were only doing what they’d been told to do. The problem is the politicians and the police brass. If I were running a big-city police department, I’d tell my cops to ignore chicken-shit “crimes” like prostitution, selling individual cigarettes, or selling drugs for that matter. If it’s consensual, it’s not a crime by any reasonable definition. I’d focus on non-consensual actions from murder and rape on down to vandalism.
As they should. I can see the cops on the protection details not being delighted with the assignment, but either do it (and get paid) or refuse to do it (and don’t get paid). Taking the pay but not doing the work is just another bit of corruption by the cities’ “finest”.
Agreed. They want their cake, and eat it, too, with extra frosting. Wanna bitch about the mayor and the brass? Do it on your own time and your own dime. Don’t show up for a pay detail and wax all indignant for the cameras. I call bullshit.
So now to counter the senseless deaths of those black kids out there, we’re gonna wave the bloody flag over the two cops for a while. We’re being played like fiddles by a very corrupt and mendacious media. And here’s a lesson for the rest of you cops; when you wanna sit and have lunch or whatever in your cruiser, park it strategically and keep your eyes and ears open throughout or find another way to do it; you’re sitting ducks in a cruiser or walking a foot beat and if you’re gonna do the gig, you might consider getting decent training on your own time and dime, and there’s some very good training out there, too.
Isn’t that what Obama is being excoriated for, selective following of the laws he’s supposed to be executive over?
Now, I agree that much of these shouldn’t be crimes. That problem comes from the legislators who pass rafts of unnecessary, confusing, redundant, contradictory, and often unconstitutional laws. (And the sheep who vote for the legislators.) (And the lobbyists whose employers profit from them.) (And the bureaucrats who craft regulations within the very loose framework.)
We need to get rid of most of the laws that are currently in effect. Merely repealing or (more commonly partially overriding them with later laws) isn’t working. I think the best way to handle it is to give every citizen standing to enforce the execution of the laws on the books, whether by arresting perpetrators, suing the government for damages or to force enforcement, or whatever. There’d be utter chaos and gridlock for a while, then we’d see 90% of the laws cancelled in a flurry.
As for the enforcement of trivial laws, in general I agree, but there’s some evidence that cracking down on the petty crap has the result of reducing the serious crime. I’m not sure it’s true — the people making the claim are generally law-n-order types with a predisposition to support the state — but it’s worth looking into. It’s also worth looking into whether that’s the best way to reduce crime and general thuggishness — killing muggers might be even better. Longer term, actively encouraging the underclass to be sterilized could be the most effective of all — give them 10% more benefits if they are irreversibly sterilized. Or cut off all social welfare benefits and let the underclass all die of starvation or violence. These are all practical matters, finding the most effective way to achieve whatever goals we set.
That’s just crazy talk. The Big Dig was never about getting a tunnel built. The Big Dig was about funneling public money to selected pockets.
None of Mr. SteveF’s recommendations will ever take place, not until this system is broken down and rebuilt, in pretty much its entirety. Mr. SteveF and the rest of us here will be sterilized, our benefits cut off, and allowed to die of starvation and/or violence first. Rest assured. At least under the current regime, which has lasted a long time and grows ever more powerful and corrupt. This stuff didn’t start with Obola or Larry Klinton, either; to suck up the Fox Network agitprop on that is a huge mistake. It’s been an unbroken line of imperial puppet presidents since Truman and rest assured they’re told what to do and when to do it.
Meanwhile they have a military and a police force that will do their bidding, until said forces feel they’re being unfairly treated or underpaid or whatever; when you hire and arm people to protect your property and interests, it can be a double-edged sword, and this has been true since the first guards were posted to protect the first crops in the Fertile Crescent and China.
So right now we’re gonna wave the bloody flag for Our Guys for a while, in countering the same flag waved around by Those Guys; how entertaining. Solves nothing. We’re in for a long and painful “adjustment” in our way of life here in the dying West.
“The Big Dig was about funneling public money to selected pockets.”
There it is. My brother and I saw that up close and first-hand when the various middle managers and political hacks down there routinely moved back and forth between the Big Dig caper and private corporations, jacking up their salaries and perks each time. It’s been quite a racket. I daresay Maffachufettts at least ties with NYC/Capital District in its corruption, malfeasance and evil. Regular schmo citizens eat shit, per usual, and pay for the privilege.
@SteveF
What you’re referring to is the “broken windows” school of policing, which holds that cracking down on petty crimes prevents an area from becoming plagued with serious crime. And I’d agree, as long as the “petty” crimes should in fact be crimes at all. That’s why I mentioned vandalism as something that shouldn’t be tolerated.
Yah, “broken window”.
The thing with the shouldn’t-be-crimes is that it is claimed they indicate or even promote a breakdown in social structure. Prostitution, eg, though a voluntary transaction, leads to viewing people, or at least women, as purchasable commodities, and that’s bad for society.
I don’t buy it myself, but it’s possible the law-n-order types are right. It’s something that should be tested, and then the costs and benefits debated and evaluated and weighed against fundamental principles such as freedom of choice.
Once again: Provoking and annoying people is a sure-fire way of not bringing them around to your point of view.
If I recall it was the owner of the business who called the cops. The guy was harassing customers coming into the store trying to get them to buy cigarettes.
The of course there is the whole “how was he choking if he could get enough air to yell they are choking me”.
Anyone who tires to fight with the cops should not be surprised when they fight back, hard.
Are there bad cops, thugs who wear a uniform? Yes there are. They should be kicked out and where ever possible prosecuted for their crimes. Something that happens all to seldom.
On the Costco front, I am seriously doubting my need for the membership. After a few months of trying it out, I really am not happy with the quality of food products there. Just a few examples: their orange juice does not come close to my usual Tropicana; ground beef is truly marginal and not as good as what I get at Meijer and nowhere close to my favorite butcher; boxed and canned goods really do taste like seconds, unlike Aldi; needed plain paper plates (which I use as lids and covers in the microwave) and they had it, but 800 plates weighing 18.7 pounds (really!); and their gas is never as low as I find it elsewhere in Indy on my way home. One of the things that prompted me to try Costco was the pharmacy, which gets the highest ratings from consumer groups around here. And my experience there was truly super. But in January, my insurance switches to a mail plan that will send me 3 months of my needs at once for no cost but the $15/mo premium. I had been paying $41/mo in premiums, and another $27/mo at pick-up for every month’s drugs. What I take are all “tier 1” drugs, which should not cost the $68/mo I ended up paying using Walmart/Costco. So with the new drug plan, and the marginal quality food, I find I really have no need for Costco. Aldi is cheaper food of much better quality, and Meijer is mid-priced between Aldi and our highest-priced national chain, Cincinnati-based Kroger. I will most likely not continue with Costco, although the year’s membership runs until August.
I have already decided to drop Amazon Prime, since — after the trial period — delivery is no faster than standard delivery. Part of that is because I am in Tiny Town, I am sure, but really, the delivery appeared intentionally fast during the trial period, and has never equaled that since. In fact, something I ordered a few weeks ago was shipped from an Amazon warehouse in Arizona, sent to Nevada, shipped back to Arizona, and eventually took over 2 weeks for delivery. No apology; just a notice that my item would be delayed. And no compensation even though it was horribly late as a Prime item. Since I do not stream movies, my Prime expires and will not be renewed next month.
Are there bad cops, thugs who wear a uniform? Yes there are. They should be kicked out and where ever possible prosecuted for their crimes. Something that happens all to seldom.
Sure. And in the case in NY, one officer used a choke hold which is specifically banned in NY because of the danger to the civilian. Seems to me an open and shut case of manslaughter, though not murder.
Was it? I haven’t paid attention to the details of the Garner death, but I was under the impression that the police claimed the officer had not used a choke hold, and the video confirmed that. Is that wrong?
The vid I saw clearly showed the officer using the choke-hold and he kept it on all the way to the ground and thereafter; the problem arose when the perp kept saying he couldn’t breathe. I just had CPR/First Responder certification and when someone is at that point YOU DO CPR immediately. The arriving EMTs just stood around and watched, evidently.
Officer claims he “didn’t exert pressure during the takedown”. The ME said homicide I think. The GJ yawned. Of course, the prosecutor will always get what is wanted from the GJ.
Case closed till the next death.
The two cops murdered were innocent. Will Sharpless, Jackwagon and Fartinacan march for them and raise funds for the families?
“Will Sharpless, Jackwagon and Fartinacan march for them and raise funds for the families?”
Haha, good one! If they did, around 50-million Murkans would have instant haht attacks and strokes, including me.
Here’s another good one: has Obola come out and expressed sympathy yet? And if so, couched in what terms? I’d bet a week’s pay (which I don’t have, haha) that he can’t just do it straight without bringing some other lefty angle into it, such as “the existing climate that divides us” and other such claptrap and baloney.
Naturally if the heroic warrior cop SAYS he didn’t exert pressure during the takedown, that should suffice in and of itself. Again, that’s not the real issue here, as someone else on this blog originally stated a while back; the issue was the guy said he couldn’t breathe and at that point you have him under control and you administer CPR immediately until the paramedic professionals arrive, which in this case, was apparently moot.
In Ferguson you tell the mug to get the fuck outta the middle of the street. He refuses. (and you don’t know yet that he just robbed the store). You get outta the cruiser, though it pains you terribly to have to do so, and in my case I may have just let the buggers swan on down the road and hope they get hit or run over by somebody. Next shift can do the paperwork. You then accost the two miscreants and read them the riot act, i.e. get the fuck outta the street. They still refuse. Now at this point, and if they’ve been belligerent and threatening to me, I drop them to the pavement and call for the wagon.
I certainly don’t pull right up next to them so they can reach in and punch my face or grab for something. WTF? I’m not gonna make a gigantic issue out of this extremely minor infraction, that’s for sure. Depends on time of day, what point in my shift, what mood I’m in, how nasty they are to me, etc. Might just call for a backup first and then roust ’em. But not what this cop did, wrong on several levels.
And if I knew he’d just robbed a store? Out of the cruiser and get them at gunpoint and on their knees and call for backup. They charge me immediately? Without weapons? I take them out with the PR-24, Mace, or a taser. They have weapons? Blow their shit away. They’re eight feet tall and 600 pounds with steel claws for hands and sabre-tooth tiger fangs? I blow their shit away.
C’mon, this ain’t rocket science Sherlock Holmes detective work here; it’s basic street confrontation common sense.
I’m too lazy to re-re-find the link, but a study a few years ago showed that in 2010, 126_000 cases against non-cops went to federal grand juries. Of these, the GJ found 97% had sufficient evidence to go to trial. The same year, there were 84 federal cases against cops. Only one of these was found to have sufficient evidence. (All years and numbers are IIRC, but are approximately correct.)
Yah, the prosecutor gets what he wants. And approximately no prosecutor anywhere wants to piss off his good friends and allies in the police department.