All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[MiddleMan]

anyone who thinks The Idiot was or is capable to lead needs to be shamed forever

[shooshoomanjoe]

The last time the Act was used with out the consent of the State was in Alabama to enforce desegregation of schools... that's right the US Army occupied public schools so that people of color can go there.
I always find it funny when people refer to the Army as a "broad sword" or a "hammer" in the need of a scalpel. The chances are people who say such things never served, or if they did not in a combat MOS. The US army are discipline individuals with an operational knowledge of engagement that more than capable.

Not sure about other MOS but the infantry trains their soldiers how to fight people that are trying to kill them, not how to deal with unarmed citizens.

[Tami]

How the World Views the Protests in America

[MiddleMan]

after a 7 hour hearing, the murderers in the Ahmaud Arbery case are going to trial

All of his lawyers should be charged with contempt for wasting the courts time

[Moon Ronin]

Not sure about other MOS but the infantry trains their soldiers how to fight people that are trying to kill them, not how to deal with unarmed citizens.

That is untrue, as former forward observer of the of the 75th Ranger Regiment HHC US Army we trained in non-lethal tactics and are well aware of how to engage in unarmed civilian unrest. Infantry is absolutely thought how to behave and react in such situations more so than the police and the national guard.

[BeastieRunner]

[PwrdOn]

What’s everyone’s thoughts on the theory of abolishing the police and replacing it with something else?

It's not that simple though, in countries where crime is low and police brutality is not a major issue, there is this implicit societal trust that people will respect laws and that, in return, the police will not weaponize the law as a tool of oppression, and those outliers that don't can be dealt with strictly without raising too much public alarm. In America, the police have been the strong arm of racial injustice for so long that many people, with no small justification, believe that trying to follow laws and be an upstanding citizen is a hopeless dead end, because they will just be singled out and brutalized anyway, and so if that's the case they may as well just take their chances and do whatever it takes to get by. This attitude will not disappear just because we hit a reset button on the police, if you just go "hey guys, we know the cops have been abusing people for centuries but this new organization that looks suspiciously like the old thing is totally different and is here to help you," nobody is going to believe you.

This is what people mean when they say that racism is woven into the fabric of American society, it's not just like you can single out one source for the problem and just remove that. There's no version of America that looks like the one we remember growing up in, where everyone was happy and free and prosperous and discrimination didn't exist, because many of the systems and institutions that enabled some of us to live well were only made possible because large segments of society were denied access to the same kinds of opportunities and resources. The police don't brutalize black people for no reason, they did it to protect the property of wealthy white people, take away the brutality and much of the economic security and stability that comes with this absolute devotion to safeguarding private property will also evaporate. Is this a trade off that people are going to be able to accept?

[MacrossPlus]

I guess we’ll just wait and see what happens then

[JCAll]

Well the thing is what did those 3 actually do? The main one was violating all sorts of policy with that knee.

Now you can say they did nothing to stop him from doing that. Other than that what else?

All you will get is another Freddie Gray case. Where they tossed a net on everyone and lost.

Right now that looks like trying to clam folks down tactic. It will be up to the state to prove what they did wrong.




Won't happen. While some of these folks are screaming BLEEP the cops and all that-they are the SAME folks who will call the cops on Pookie or Ray Ray when they commit a crime against them.

Let the cops stay home for one WEEK in Chiraq or St Louis. Those same criminals many of those communities protect are going to have a FIELD day in that community.

At most you have to change the recruitment, admissions and everything it takes to make a cop.

A 4 year police academy could work-if you get those boys and gals right out of high school.

And you would have to come up with a curriculum.

One of the things my high school (magnet art school) did Freshman year for us visual artist was this-we got to take 1 six weeks of EVERY course.

6 weeks of Print Making, Fibers (clothing), painting, ceramics, metal shop and jewelry. The next year we chose 2 (or 1) take a semester.

For cops you should do the same. Show them each division Freshman year. Major in one or two the next 3 years.

I would INCLUDE a REQUIREMENT of serving in EVERY community.

I would suggest before any cop is assigned a community. It is REQUIRED that they meet those in the community and actually be interviews and questioned. If that community does not want you-you go somewhere else.

My goal-I want a Dan Wilson in a community he feel comfortable and accepted in. I want him to know everybody in that community AND schools.

And like teachers-you got renew your contract.

Who the @#$% are Pookie and Ray Ray? Come on, man.

[Iron Maiden]

Twitter Link

Every time I read an interview or see a speech by this POTUS I just cringe. "We had the best numbers in everything. Not only African American but the African American numbers were great" I doubt he that he can string two cohesive thoughts together.

[Jack Dracula]

Every time I read an interview or see a speech by this POTUS I just cringe. "We had the best numbers in everything. Not only African American but the African American numbers were great" I doubt he that he can string two cohesive thoughts together.

Syphilitic dementia is a terrible affliction.

[Gray Lensman]

Syphilitic dementia is a terrible affliction.

We are all certainly suffering from it, that's for sure.

[numberthirty]

Who the @#$% are Pookie and Ray Ray? Come on, man.

Ray Ray? Not a clue.

Pookie, on the other hand? You're seriously saying that you don't get the reference?

[Mister Mets]

Ray Ray? Not a clue.

Pookie, on the other hand? You're seriously saying that you don't get the reference?

I googled this, and found out Obama knows them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-on-the-couch/

Cousin Pookie is back, y'all. Remember him? Last we checked, he was on somebody's couch. And Pookie was not thinking about voting because that's not what Pookie does. Pookie basically does Pookie.

Well, President Obama, desperate to get out the black vote, has revived the folk hero that is Cousin Pookie once again. Here's Obama at a rally on the South Side of Chicago for Gov. Pat Quinn on Sunday night:

"You've got to grab your friends, you’ve got to grab your co-workers, you know, don’t just get the folks who you know are gonna vote, you’ve got to find Cousin Pookie. He’s sitting on the couch right now watching football, hasn't voted in the last five elections, you’ve got to grab him, and tell him to go vote.”

Obama said virtually the same thing at a rally Sunday for Maryland Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who is running for governor.

Yes, we are grateful that Obama name-dropped Cousin Pookie, because it means that we can recall all things Obama and Cousin Pookie. They make such a good pair that the urban dictionary cites Obama's reference to Pookie under the definition of "Pookie n nem": "The proverbial ominous 'hood' characters and or family member that every person with a connection to the ghetto knows."

Prior to Obama's invocation of Cousin Pookie, the most famous version of this stock character was Chris Rock's crack-addicted version in the classic movie "New Jack City" (1991).

Now, we can't be sure how long Obama has known about Cousin Pookie, but the voter mobilization version of Cousin Pookie goes back to 2008. Obama typically brought him up in front of black crowds, and when he did, it always brought laughter and recognition. It was a kind of code switching, easy proof that in fact, Obama was down with the people. (Sometimes Ray Ray would be in the mix, and less frequently, Uncle Jethro, Pookie's Southern white corollary). "I need you to grab Cousin Pookie to vote; I need you to grab Ray Ray to vote," Obama said in South Carolina at a rally during the 2008 primary battle. "If Cousin Pookie would vote, if Uncle Jethro would get off the couch and stop watching 'SportsCenter' and go register some folks and go to the polls, we might have a different kind of politics," he said in March 2007 in Selma, Ala.

[JCAll]

Ray Ray? Not a clue.

Pookie, on the other hand? You're seriously saying that you don't get the reference?

Nah, must be a hole in my pop culture knowledge.

I googled this, and found out Obama knows them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-on-the-couch/

All of that just sounds bizarre.