i am just going to add to the opinions and perspectives that @MilkmanDan ,@ChaosEngine ,@dannym3141 and especially @newtboy who i agree with so clearly that i swear we are related.

since many dynamics have already been covered, i.e:police culture,racism,incompetence etc etc.

i shall offer a historical perspective in the ways of the power dynamic.

while this is a power vs powerlessness dynamic dealing with agents of the state,it helps to understand just how we got to this point,and it is NOT the first time we have been here.

see:labor movement of the 30's and the labor strikes,and the response from not only the business community but our own government.

see: the civil rights movement and segregation,and how demagouges used political power to divide by way of racism,and then used police to intimidate,beat and imprison.

there are many MANY examples here in america where the police have been used to suppress and oppress a people or community for less than altruistic reasons,and most certainly not aligning with the ideology we were taught in school the function of police.nevermind the syrupy sweet,idealized picture shoved down our throats since an early age.

so we see on our facebooks,our twitters and/or whatever social media you prefer,that black lives matter...and the counter point,that NO..ALL lives matter.

now this would make sense in a world that never took history into account,or a growing cultural norm of violence and oppression that had been slowly seeping into poor communities (mainly black and latino).

oh wait..
that's right.
social media pundits NEVER fucking consider any of those factors,because just like bill o'reilly,those are pesky nuances and context conflict with their own narrow narrative.

but let us consider them and how they may possibly be a major driving factor in americas current climate.

let us take ferguson as an example,that is a good place to start.
and let us go back to 2008,where we can see the boiling begin to take place in this extremely impoverished community which was already struggling.

the population is a black majority,poor to working poor.home ownership is low,food stamp recipients are high and the future is pretty bleak.

in 2008 ferguson received approximately 18% of it's total fiscal revenue from misdemeanor infractions i.e:traffic,parking,moving violations.small time stuff.basic fines for small infractions.in 2008 that number jumped to 66%.

why?
what happened?
what changed?

well the comptroller of ferguson (and greater st louis),along with HUNDREDS of other smaller municipalities across the country,had bought the rotten fish that wall street was selling in the form of bullshit derivatives.

now wall street and the big banks got their tax payer bailout,but towns like ferguson did not.they lost millions,sometimes billions.this meant pensions were either reduced or outright denied,because there was NO money!

but a town still has to pay police.
fire fighters and school teachers,
clerks and judges,
keep the roads paved and the street lights working.

so what is a local government to do?
can't tax the working class who own homes.you already jacked their property tax to the roof.
can't tax the local business,you already squeeze them as well.
how about those non-property owning people in ferguson?
they need to pay up as well,and let's use the police force to relinquish them of the paltry money they don't have.

to the tune of 66% of all of fergusons revenue.
that is insanity.

so what if you live in ferguson?
chances are you are black,and either poor or working poor.

you make,if you are lucky,20 grand a year and by one man's testimony he paid over 2,000 in traffic tickets in one year.the majority of americans dont see those kind of numbers their entire lifetime.

and what if you began to realize that it was not just you.that almost every person you know or talked to had similar stories.

would you begin to feel a tad bit targeted?

what if the city of ferguson started to become very creative with not only their rules but how they enforced those rules?

what if every year the fines went up?
not remained the same,but actually UP? every year.

what if,as a community people began to actually fear the police? to experience anxiety just by the sight of a patrol car,even though they were not engaging in anything illegal? and who knows...maybe there is some new ordinance on the books that you are unaware of?

would you become paranoid and suspicious of law enforcement?

and then..what if....you started losing friends to cops.people you grew up with being shot in the street,and every time the mayor comes out and calls it a "justifiable killing".

would that make you feel any better?
any less paranoid or anxious?

there was ONE police shooting in ten years and then..as if by magic ..(which is how the media seems to always portray this..shocking news..at 11)..you lose 5 friends in a year.all to cops..all "justifiable".

would you begin to think there was a conspiracy?
targeting you and your neighbors?

i BET you would.
i know i would.

now lets look at the cops.

they are just a tool.
an instrument for the state to uphold the law and write citations for infractions.they dont MAKE the laws,nor the infractions,not even the fines.

they just do what they are told.

and they are told to go into these poor and working poor neighborhoods and write tickets,a LOT of tickets.

do you really think they are unaware of the growing hostility towards them? the looks of disgust,fear and apprehension?

but...this is their job,and they do what they are told.

they see.
they know.
they are aware of the growing hatred towards them,and this makes them anxious..and defensive..and in some horrible,tragic cases...trigger happy.

a natural and normal response to heightened stimuli in the face of great uncertainty.

so they react impulsively and out of fear in a way that ten years ago would have been unheard of.

they think themselves good cops.
they do a good job.
they do what they are told.
and the people hate them for it.
so they respond instinctively and with poor judgement.

we..as citizens,respond with disgust and indignation when a cop abuses his/her authority.we see this as a major moral breach in the citizen/cop relationship,because we feel as agents of the law they should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us...and rightly so,but when you put a human being in a tense and dangerous situation,not of their making,they will fail at some point to react correctly and with sound judgement.

they SHOULD be held accountable,but so should the city council members and the mayor and all the local representatives who created this toxic climate in the first place.

the lesson to be learned here is that nothing is a binary situation when people are concerned.

so when black lives matter protestors address people to make them aware of the situation,this is what they are talking about.the police killing are only a last stage manifestation of a situation that began in 2008 on wall street.

and we need to be aware,because right now it is the predominantly black communities,but soon coming to a neighborhood near YOU.

the poor and working poor have become expendable.no longer relevant to the system.which is why police shootings are being handled the way they are.our value is ever increasingly being judged on how well we can feed the system.

until this disparity is addressed there will continue to be police shootings.people will die and there will be no indictments.

because police do what they are told.

it is up to us to make policy makers accountable for their actions,and in doing so address a toxic climate that both the poor,working poor and cops alike have to swim in.

stop forcing cops to write tickets to fund a city that lost it's savings due to fuckhead bankers.

this blood..all of it..is on those bankers hands.

She's Irish dancing to a Latino man rapping as Alexander Hamilton.

Give her some slack.

488 lawsuits?!? NO. Try more like 3500....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/01/donald-trump-lawsuits-legal-battles/84995854/


It's hilarious that his legal argument is that anyone of Latino descent, Muslim, Arab descent, Jewish descent, or really anyone not a WASP logically and properly hate him because of his stances so much that they'll commit felonies against him with no thought to their own career. Doesn't that mean he's clearly admitting that if he was president he would have the least effective presidency ever simply from all the frivolous lawsuits, attacks, and roadblocks to "progress" he'll have to defend against daily? Not what we need in today's climate, where a politician that can actually get things done is needed badly....although considering what he wants to do, it would be the only good thing about his presidency, that it failed to further his agenda.

Pedophile Bill Clinton?! Based on what? Dead bodies?!

While you are completely making things up, Trump said publicly that most Mexicans coming over the border are drug dealers and rapists. I wonder when faced with a choice between them, which negatives will Latinos focus on. Or if you are a woman, will you focus on Bill Clinton's negatives or the actual GOP candidate saying only the woman should be punished for getting an abortion?

If you honestly believe the BS you are shoveling, prepare to be shocked when Trump gets crushed should he get nominated.

Ahh is this like an argument, or are you two just insulting each other?

Its really difficult to "believe" in something if you dont know what the hell it is or is trying to be. It is better to discover and know than to believe. I dont have a horse in this race as I am not american (my sister is and she just de-registered from the republicans), but seriously why are there no "normal" people running for political jobs anymore? You know, credible people with a plan, not psychopats, not avatars of agressive womanhood, latino-ism, socialism or stupidity?

Are there only dumb fanboys at these rallies so stupidity is expected, and has to be promoted in order to appeal? Are facts and program and sanity important to any degree at all?

Is Trump the bigger bum than Sanders, just with a rich dad?

It's more than black (and asians and latinos who incidentally get almost no award representation) are just a smaller portion of the population, or more directly a smaller part of the movie industry.

If anything, there's a bias against female directors, generally female senior movie staff and leading actresses in casting and employment since on a population basis you would expect it to be roughly 50-50.

But then again at least at the actor/actress level, studios just make what sells. Perhaps there simply isn't the demand for as many female led movies or it's not something enough people pay to go see.

For every white superhero, there is a black superhero; and for every 20 black and white superheroes, there is a single Asian S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and/or a Latino comic relief.

I'm kidding, I don't really give a shit -- but it's true.

One argument I've heard is that crime takes place in the inner cities, so of course there will be a larger portion of black heroes/villains.

Anyway, I've read 100s of Marvel comic books, including the Alias, Daredevil, Marvel Knights, and Defenders series (which ISN'T the Defenders we're going to be presented with on Netflix) so I'm definitely excited about seeing Jessica and Power Man.

But more importantly, the Purple Man (Zebediah Killgrave) is a key villain to know and fear. He pulls a lot of the conspiratorial strings of the Marvel universe on earth to come.

That I suppose too depends, just like the gays,

I would suppose if the blacks, Latino or Irish came in looking all thug like or the gays came in flaming gay then I would be probable to deny service.

If these groups came in dressed civilized and showed manners that the community is accustomed to then why would you not serve them.

And if you replace gay with black? (or Latino? or Irish? or Chinese?)

Still ok with it?

Our country has a long history of immigrants taking the lowest paying menial jobs that no one else wants. The problem is that we have not updated our immigration laws to make it easier for people to come here legally. We also have. in some cases, fought to make these laws more restrictive towards immigrants.

I have no problem with immigrants taking low paying jobs. There is no way I am ever working for minimum wage again. Nor will I work menial labor. If they want those jobs, more power to them.

My problem is that because we have made it extremely hard to immigrate, we have illegal immigrants coming here. Illegal immigrants are outside of the system for the most part. They generally do not pay taxes other than sales tax, they use emergency care services that they cannot pay for because they cannot join healthcare plans, and their children use services that are being paid for by other taxpayers. These things put a drain on the system and that is my only real concern.

Personally, I have come to feel we should simply grant amnesty for any immigrant who can prove they are not a threat to society. I live in Texas, in a neighborhood that is predominantly surrounded by Latino people. My house has never been broken into, I have never been threatened by a Latino person, and my Wife and dogs have never been accosted by Latino's when she walks around the area. I have friends that live in Caucasian areas that have had the complete opposite experience...from other Caucasians.

If we give these people, who mostly just want to work hard for their families, a chance to join the system, then we can all benefit.

I do not "BLAME the poor,black and Latino "persons. I blame their actions or lack thereof.

I am not here to defend cops. They have a shitty job today and can't really trust anyone. They serve and protect us they have to protect themselves.

We live in a "police state" today because people are assholes thinking that they have the right to moth off at cops and each other with out consequences.

This is the world that we live in because all want to do out own thing and are being told that you have the right to do so.


You reap what you sow.

@bobknight33
here is what i don't get about you or lantern:
1.you state that you are a conservative with a "tea party" flavor to your politics,
YET...
you consistently defend the power of the state to authorize our ever-increasing militarized police force to engage in violence and brutality which often leads to the death of a citizen,often with impunity (such as this case).

this is neither conservative nor tea party,it is fascist.

2.many of your arguments point to obeying a lawful order,be polite and respectful and much of the brutality and violence would end.on this point i totally agree,
BUT....
you totally ignore how "equal under law" has been perverted to only serve the elite and those who can "pay for justice" and how the system of "justice" has been corrupted to target minorities and the economically insolvent (poor) and feed them into the largest prison system on the planet.

they are commodifying the poor,blacks,latinos in the name of profit,all for the same elitist fucknozzles who perpetrated fraud,theft and outright lies,walking away with trillions of our money and not a single indictment.(check that,ONE indictment of a low level banker..whoopdy-shit).

yet i see you consistently BLAME the poor,black and latino.

this is not conservative nor tea party....it is racist.

3.many of your posts deal with a corrupt government.how it is bloated and inefficient.you decry the 'welfare/nanny state" and the horrible misappropriation of funds.

this is a typical,and necessary argument.that is the way of political dialogue and while i am not debating here the finer points nor the validity of your position,i am,however,saying the discussion is a necessary one to engage in.

however,

you,almost without fail,disregard and will actually DEFEND:police brutality and military action on foreign soil.yet BOTH of these institutions are exclusively government controlled,operated and executed.(which is why many of lanterns posts make me laugh).

this is not conservative nor tea party ......... it is the epitome of cognitive dissonance.

my point is:
your arguments and positions are not philosophically harmonious.
they are in direct opposition.your posted philosophies are a direct contradiction to what you espouse.

here is an example of late:
@newtboy tends to post cops behaving badly videos.
you will chime in,almost always,siding with the cop (in one fashion or another).
newtboy will make an argument about exercising your rights.the rights as a citizen in a situation with a representative of the state..
AND YOU WILL ARGUE WITH HIM.

in that instance..newtboy is more a tea party conservative than you are bob.

think about that for a moment bob....
newt is MORE of a patriot and constitutionalist than YOU are.
maybe you are just being a contrarian?
maybe just a bit of trolling?

but...in the end,your arguments make no sense due to their contradictory nature.
you can't be for a smaller,more accountable government and then look the other way when that very same government is over-stepping it's lawful directives.

Aw really, Empire?

You're the factual gamer. ..but apparently that's where the facts end.

You didn't look up and facts about poverty disproportionally affects black americans?

Besides, you're Portuguese. No?

I wouldn't consider that "white" exactly.

European, sure.
White.. not so much.

I feel like you'd be treated like an " exotic foreigner" in polite white america.

You'd definitely be considered Latino or "Mexican" in more ignorant places here.

Tho if you're some how totally WASPy looking, I could understand why you're on the denialism boat.