@bcglorf

i don't think using @drradon 's example of anarchy a good use as a rebuttal.

now may be larken rose's vision is an extreme example,taken from the von mises institute,and where they dreamily offer a counter to police with a "non-aggression principle".while cute and adorable,humans tend to be far more vicious and violent in nature,especially when desperate.

but again,i think our respective approaches to authority will not find common ground here.

i do not seek a leader,but i am ok with a representative,though i do not seem to have any in my government at the moment.

i find it curious,amazing and not a little disturbing just how easily people will quietly,and tacitly accept a police that has become more and more draconian,violent and aggressive while SIMULTANEOUSLY decreasing the citizens rights to protect themselves,defend themselves and resist unlawful police practices.

because they simply change the law to make what WAS illegal...legal.with a stroke of a pen.

and i simply cannot respect when an american says,without any sense of justice or history,to just sit down,shut up and do what you are told.

while claiming they are a patriot,waving their american flag made in china.

the history of law enforcement in this country reveals that their main job,their main focus and duty is NOT to the poor,the dispossessed or the marginalized.

the police's job is to protect those who hold assets,who have money and wield political power.

and before you say anything,i am quite aware that there are some,and they are the majority,who do their job with honor and distinction.my argument is not about singular police officers but rather the systematic problems inherent in the system.

lets take my city for example.
i am blessed enough to live adjacent to a very wealthy and influential housing development.

average police response time?=7 minutes.

right down the street,not 10 miles down the road,is a depressed area of town.industry and manufacturing abandoned that area 20 years ago.it is stricken with prostitution,heroin addicts and abject poverty.

average police response time?=22 minutes

yet the main police station is in THAT area.

or should i bring up the history of american labor movement?
where the coal miners in west virginia decided to strike,and because the owners of the mines were politically connected.the governor sent in the state police to...and this should send chills down your spine...shoot any miners unwilling to go back to work.

and they did.
they murdered any coal miner still willing to stand up against the owners of the mine,and this included women and children.

now lets examine that for a minute.
workers for a coal mine decided to strike for better working conditions (which were horrible) and actually have a day off,besides sunday (because:god).

the owner of the mine,who was losing immense of amount of money due to zero production of coal,called the governor to have the state police,a civil institution,sent in to put those people down.to force them to either get back to work or face violence.

*now the owner brought in his own mercenary group to assist in the process of intimidation,strong arm tactics and violence.

i will add one more story that is personal,and comes from my own family,and may possibly explain my attitude towards police in general.

my father was born in 1930,in alton illinois.
now that small town had been hit particularly hard during the depression.my father spoke of not having indoor plumbing until he went into the navy,and how the floors in his childhood home were simple boards over dirt.

he grew up extremely poor,and my grandfather struggled to find steady work,and i gather from what my father told me.my grandpa made bootleg beer out of the bathtub.so he and his 6 brothers and 1 sister had to bathe in the mississippi river while grandpa tried to make money by selling illegal hooch.

my father also regaled me with stories of the chores he had as the youngest of 8 kids.it was his job every morning to head to the train tracks and pick the coal that dropped from the coal carts.(which he admitted to being lazy and stole directly from the very full coal cart itself while his brother kept an eye out for the station master).

my point is that my father grew up in desperate and poor times.

but one story always stood out,and i think it is because it has a wild west feel to it that always transfixed me,and i made him tell me the story over and over as a child.

when times are tough,people will do whatever they have to in order to survive,so my grandfather making illegal hooch was not the only illegalities being played out in that small town.neighbor upon neighbor did what they had to,and most were considered criminals in the eyes of the state.

so i guess one of my grandpa's friends was on the run from the law,and sought refuge at my grandpa's home.which he allowed,because neighbors take care of neighbors,at least they used to.

well,in a small town everybody knows everybody,and eventually three police officers showed up at my grandpa's house,and demanded that he turn over (i forgot the guys name).

and i remember the pride on my fathers face whenever he retold this story....

my grandfather stood tall on the top of his stairs facing his front door,holding his gun he was given during WW1 and told the police officers (which he knew.small town remember?),that if they took one step into his home..he would blow their heads off.

now this is a story retold from a childs perspective many years later.i am sure my fathers memory was a tad....biased..but i would bet the meaty parts were accurate.

now my question is this:
how would that exact same scenario play out in todays climate?

well,we would see on the 6 o'clock news how a family was tragically shot to death for harboring a criminal and that the police had done EVERYTHING in their power to avoid this kind of violence.

i know this is long,and i hope i didn't lose you along the way,but i think we should not dismiss the very real slow decent into a society that silently obeys,quietly accepts more and more authoritarian powers all in the name of "safety",and that any form of resistance is to be viewed as "criminal" and "troublesome".

so while i agree that "when should we shoot a cop" should be in the realm of:let us try to never do that.

i also cannot agree to placing cops on a hero platform as if their job is somehow sacrosanct and beyond reproach.they are human beings,of limited intellect,whose main job it is to protect those who own property,have wealth and wield political power.

and with the current disparity and blatant inequality their job has been more and more focused on keeping those 30% undesirables down.

the poor,the destitute,the marginalized,the addict and the junkie and the petty criminals.

those are a threat to the "better" citizens.they are a blight on a community that should be cleansed from the tender eyes of those who are deemed more "worthy".

rich folk may wring their hands,and lament the plight of the poor and wretched,but for GOD's sakes! they don't want to actually SEE them!

so a police officer can do all the mental gymnastics they want in order to justify their place in society,but at the end of the day,they serve the elites.

and they always have.

If you're actually sick do you still take the day off work?

My next door neighbour gets paid to play/test gambling machines.

How about we observe saving time, but everyone gets the day off and no one has a heart attack, car accident, nor write ups from asshole bosses? If you can't get the day off, bosses are legally obligated not to shit on you.

No, unfortunately. I don't go into the city much as parking is a real pain and there's a big Westfield mall not very far from my house.

I might have to make the effort my next day off though and see if he's there

close call:) thanks, enjoy your days off

Nice one. It's what I would have expected, which is sad. The film could better drive home the point that this was from "one day". Even if he took that day off and just walked around for 12 hours, it's still sad.

But it is NYC, so I wonder how many shitty comments a non-dwarf white guy would get as a "control" to compare against. Probably not as many photos or height-related comments, but...

Starting the day off with a little comedy fun, and some artistic culture.

I've worked more years in the service industry than I care to admit.
I've had my share of un-user-friendly clients ream me out for things I had no control of. I've worked the long hours without sitting down, missed breaks, sore feet, no days off... etc.., etc....

BUT I always took pride in trying to do things a little better every time I did my tasks, no matter how mundane they were. And I smiled at customers, and I took my heavy breath and I shuffled on. I went out of my way for the client/customer every time.

Please don't presume to tell me I have no clue. If you chose to let your job get the better of you, then it's time to move on. I eventually did. Moved up and over. Tripled my pay and got on with life. But I never took anything out on the job, I always performed and I never pretended to think I was above the job. It's a job. And if we choose to be there, then we damn well better choose to do it well. That's called character, and responsibility.

Period.

So. What you can't see is that she's naked and drinking martini's at 2 in the afternoon on her 3 days-off with a batch of hash brownies about to come out of the oven

@shatterdrose :

I downvoted it because that is what it is for ! He is acting like a pissy high school girl, why the hell does he give two hoots you made that comment ? guy is just mad about something else and taking it out on you. The little voice in his head must be taking the day off.

Darwin Never rests. Never takes a day off. Drive stupid and he will find you.
Always love the idiots who claim they can drive in this. Its only a matter of time.

Here is some footage looking back the other way, to the volcano:



According to Turi Scandurra, the kids got a day off school on Monday from it

That was just one long set up for me to spit out my tea laughing at Miss USA wasn't it?
Brilliant.
Disappointed that the Chinese turned up as a po-faced Romulan on her day off. All the others were mostly imaginative.

Yeah--except he IS getting jail time... Not that your response is ignorant, but who in their right minds didn't think he would be arrested? Who even considered it? I can tell you who. People who don't watch social change and are stuck in the past. Within even the last few years enormous strides have been made to stomp out people like this guy. Yet this video makes no difference, it doesn't provide proof...even though it does...

The problem people see is that the benefit of the doubt still has to go to the officer in most cases. When it's proven he/she has acted out of line to an obvious illegal extent, what happens in this video is pretty standard.

Let me give you an example of this in a different light. The officers arrive on scene. No video footage was take. Their "man" says, "Hey, she attacked me so I cuffed her." Her "friends" speak up. And what would they say? Of course, she didn't provoke him in the least! Every time, never fails. If officers took the approach, without evidence, that the other officer should lose the he-said she-said then how could any officer be justified if it wasn't on camera? They couldn't, if you think about it.

Anyways, back to the example. So obviously the officer should be given heavier consideration than the woman and her posse. However, upon inspection, they find the off duty officer has a gun--which he cannot have in such an environment as an establishment that serves alcohol (I don't think anyone can have a gun in a bar.) Plus her story starts to add up. She has injuries, he does not. All this evidence is collected.

What happens next? Well, you can't arrest him there in a he-said she-said. The evidence is sketchy at best for now, and that pesky shit we call due process? Yeah, protects him too... So you get the evidence, then say, "You know what? We think you were out of line. Perhaps criminal. But due process means we might will not get a conviction. 30 day suspension for the gun in an alcoholic state. 15 for conduct unbecoming. And reference to anger management counseling."

Of course the people scream bloody murder. Why isn't he fired?! Well, the same laws that protect you also protect him. And he did, in this example, get a pretty bloody ass from all the days off. And if he was charged but got off? Well, they would scream bloody murder for that too--even though a jury of regular people found him/her not guilty... (And he could sue the agency if they fired him for the charges he was found not guilty on.)

Sorry for the rant. I just think some people need to see the shitty from both sides, but also what has changed. I for one smile when ass-tards like this go to jail. And I think, "Wow, the system has changed so much from when I was a kid."