It kills me that when I first read about this verdict, I thought, I can't even remember which one this is.
With the, "Officer, I have a concealed carry permit. I'm reaching for my license and..."
Seven shots.
I'm at a loss. What do we have to do?
"Cop Shoots Citizen -- You Won't Believe What Happens Next!"
"Try This One Weird Trick To Make Murder Charges Disappear!"
"Victims Hate Them -- Local Prosecutors Never Seem To Have Much Luck Convicting Cops!"
It wasn't even murder he wasn't convicted of. Manslaughter was the biggest charge I saw in the news.
Person with gun pointed at them, any mistake made by fear met with instant death.
Person pointing gun, any mistake made by fear unpunishable.
Also a self defense standard of "I was afraid of someone getting something out of their pocket because they have a gun" (and nothing else) is pretty incompatable with wide-spread concealed carry. I mean no one here was arguing or anything.
The 2nd amendment works better the whiter you are.
I mean no one here was arguing or anything.
Oh, but didn't you know? He had a broken tail light. He should've known what kind of risk he was running.
If we ever end up in a context where it's relevant, then yes.
I also hadn't realized that one of the cop's bullets struck the backseat, next to the child. Just in case we needed anyone more confirmation of how completely fucked up this decision is.
23: at the very least he should not have been acquitted of reckless gun use given the danger to the child. Bah.
Odd juxtaposition of verdicts yesterday- text someone to kill themselves=guilty, shoot a driver for getting wallet while black =not guilty.
15: That texting case is awful. I made the mistake of reading some of the texts. Ugh.
16: Really awful, but is it manslaughter? I don't know. It just seems very stupid and sad. I guess she was under 18 at the time, so they're going to treat her as a youthful offender.
The silence of the NRA 2nd amendment types is deafening.
Between this and the Grenfell fire, humanity is really acutely depressing recently. (I mean, beyond the general depression of living in a new fascist gilded age.)
Cosign 19 about a thousand times. (If one of you losers replies with a numeric value, it will not improve my assessment.)
Yeah the Grenfell fire is so horrific.
at the very least he should not have been acquitted of reckless gun use given the danger to the child.
That's one of the parts that stunned me most. It just reaffirms again that there is literally no set of circumstances that cannot be construed by a jury of white people to make a "reasonable" officer feel scared for his life.
I'm really, really, REALLY ready for some investigative journalist to do an in-depth analysis of people whose jobs involve unpredictable and dangerous situations, who are not armed, and who manage to deescalate those situations every damn day. I know some librarians they can start with.
Also, in case my heart was not breaking hard enough, just got an e-mail from the White Helmets in Syria with a link to their open letter to the Grenfell firefighters.
My mom's library had an unarmed security guard whose job was to make sure the homeless people were reading, not sleeping.
About the texting case: I remember reading a long-form article on it when it happened, and the impression I got was that the relationship was really toxic and overwhelming, and the girl was finally like "Okay, I cannot deal with your suicidality back-and-forth anymore, I will support you in getting it over with". Which is terrible, yes, but also something that I can totally see a teenager thinking, both in terms of feeling stuck with the relationship and about suicide. It's the kind of thing that someone might think if they're very young, don't have any real access to adult support and see no way out. It's really sad, but I think the way the media is presenting it is scapegoating and horrible.
About Philando Castile: I went to the first part of the big protest here on Friday but was not able, for a variety of reasons, to stay for the march. Two friends of Castile's spoke, and they were in pretty rough shape. I had never been around people who had recently lost someone to political violence before. It was a degree of pain and anger that was overwhelming and terrible. If I could describe it better I would. When you look at someone in so much pain and you know that there is no recourse in the world, it's horrible. You want to rush in and fix things so that they aren't suffering like that, and there is absolutely nothing that you can do. Everything is exhausted now.
This was handled extremely badly and foolishly by the state , the mayor and the governor, and it has done a tremendous amount of harm to the city. Not so much in terms of "police/community relations" which were already not that great, but in terms of forcing people to submit to such a great, visible, undeniable injustice. I can't see it as anything except an attempt to break the will of the Black community. The major and the governor should be ashamed that they didn't say anything meaningful or try to do anything. They did a huge amount to weaken and delegitimatize civic norms because they didn't want to come out against the police. It's a terrible, terrible harm to the community when a visible injustice goes unpunished.
It felt unbearable to be at that protest and witness that much pain. I don't understand why we live in a society where people can suffer so much and no one cares.
The other thing that's paralyzingly depressing is that WaPo article about the super popular police trainer guy who teaches shoot first, they're all murderers and you need to kill, kill, kill.
Usually when the criminal case goes to shit there's a follow up civil case (or a federal case for violation of civil rights but that's clearly off the table.). Are his girlfriend or family suing him or the city for wrongful death?
I have bad news about the federal government that might relate to the willingness of the Justice Department to pursue federal charges.
The atmosphere might change after Sessions has taken refuge in the Russian embassy.
I can't see it as anything except an attempt to break the will of the Black community.
Yes. If you can't rely on the police because they can't be held accountable for clear misconduct toward you and you can't carry your own weapon because you'll get shot by the police as a threat....
And the only person ever rejected for a federal judgeship because of his racism is running the DOJ.
I like the world better when Moby is making terrible puns instead of painfully accurate observations.
No offense to Moby. That was more a comment on the state of the world.
If anyone wants some good news, the visionary creator of the first Black woman-owned comic book store in Philadelphia just got a $50,000 grant to help more young people who can't afford art school.