Meanwhile, they have an orange beanbag presidential hopeful spilling the beans to the whoever around the world and he gets millions of dollars of support, literal legal immunity from anything and 1/3 of the country want him to become their Cheeto leader in Mountain Dew.
That’s because that orange beanbag seated three associate justices of the Supreme Court, 54 judges for the courts of appeals, 174 district court judges, and three judges for the United States Court of International Trade.
To be fair, Biden has seated almost as many judges in his term, so that has balanced out at the lower levels. With the very important exception of the Supreme Court.
There’s also the important point of Biden not committing crimes, like those that the commenter mentioned, and having those charges heard by one of his own appointed judges. Appeals from Trump’s other cases can potentially end up with one of his appointed appeals court judges, or ultimately be heard by the newly conservative Supreme Court, as you pointed out.
I mentioned it because that’s the notable difference between Assange’s and Trump’s ability to live above the law.
Hey, to the positive, less than 1/3 of the country. First, if you look at vote numbers versus total population in previous elections, as well factoring in as the total population including those that can’t vote for various reasons. Then, factor in that the party of shit nazis is disenfranchising remaining R voters at lightning speed, the party is massively in debt in some states and basically ceasing to exist, more of the insurrectionists continue to go to prison, the rest of the crazies end up doing something stupid and get arrested…
Things are looking up as that fraction heads towards 1/4 and hopefully they’ll go back into their stinky rotting little hole where they belong. Their Russian troll daddies just make the presence look larger and more present than they really are.
I honestly don’t know what the hell you’re supposed to do in America if a loved one has a psychotic episode and threatens you, because calling the cops for help could be a death sentence for them, but not getting help could be a death sentence for you. Maybe make some sort of plan with neighbors in case something happens? But then you get the neighbors all worried that they’re living next to someone who could get dangerously psychotic. I’m not talking about what should be done if things were more ideal, I’m talking about what people with such loved ones should do if it happens today, May 22, 2024. Because it sounds like someone has a good chance of dying no matter what.
You just have to fucking deal with it yourself basically, our social safety net is a bad joke. If you’re a minority, neurodivergent, queer, or anything else they decide they don’t like, you have a much higher likelihood of literally being murdered by the people who are supposed to help and protect society.
You’ve got to get really fucking friendly with the cops and you’ve just gotta hope. You want to take your child to the local precinct office and introduce them and their disability to officers in a calm setting and discuss how to deesclate situations… especially if you can talk clearly on certain trigger scenarios and double especially if your child can voice these things himself. Then you’ve got to hope they create a file on your child and hope they fucking remember this shit if your child goes off.
Written by the step parent to a child with bipolar disorder and autism - though we’re in Canada things are extremely similar wrt policing culture up here.
You want to take your child to the local precinct office and introduce them and their disability to officers in a calm setting
This might work in a smaller town, but this family was in LA. I’ve never lived there, but I have lived in NYC and I doubt anyone in the precinct would care. They would just file some paperwork and move on to the next thing. There’s probably less than a 50/50 shot that the paperwork would be communicated to any officer in a crisis. And back when I lived there in the stone age, that chance would have been zero.
Maybe if your precinct does community policing, it would be beneficial to introduce yourself to any officers you know are local, but that assignment can change on a whim.
Big cities are composed of smaller divisions covered by local precincts - there’s still luck involved here but you’re really misunderstanding how policing works.
We had to ride out a number of suicidal episodes and drug overdoses over COVID. I have PTSD from childhood abuse that flared up during the lockdown and PTSD from previous encounters with the police (I was tased and arrested during a welfare check about a decade ago).
Thankfully my gf is good at holding space but it was still very stressful for both of us. And there were a number of times I would have gone to the hospital if I had any faith in the system.
I have a family member who had a wellness check called in for her and the cops came in and immediately beat her ass. Don’t let these fuckers into your house. Ever.
Some places have mobile response teams for mental health issues. Florida has a few programs being piloted right now. They have direct numbers. So, the police are not necessarily involved in reported events.
And that’s great, but mentally ill people are everywhere, not just in the places in Florida with pilot programs. There are many ideas with how to deal with this problem in the future. Meanwhile, cops are killing mentally ill people today.
I’m not disagreeing. My comment was solution focused. Some areas have teams set up to help. Not everyone knows about them or even to look for them. So, I was providing information that might lead people to look around for programs that might help.
they asked me and others to leave the house when i called (active suicidality and psychosis). i told them we would not, that i was sitting next to him on the floor and two minors were in their rooms nearby. i hoped they would be less likely to do something stupid when they knew there were three other people here and one actively witnessing and close to him.
i think it ensured they were more thoughtful entering my home, and he was calmer when they entered because i remained.
fortunately, i had calmed him enough and taken the weapon that this was even a possibility. i suspect it doesn’t hurt that we’re white.
It sounds like what it is, Flying. Not a tasty pill to swallow but these are the dues of the division modern society has allowed.
No more Village raising the children. No more respected elders, trusted craft people, or neighborly bonds.
For the illusion of connection and its subsequent gamification and for the enrichment of those who say what we want to hear, these are the dues to be paid.
We live and die alone, bemoaning a loss of bonds that could be mended at any time; let he who is lonely lay their cynicism down first.
No, I don’t believe it’s that easy (and recognize the risks of being first) but it probably is that simple. No clue how the message is amplified back through time in a manner that gets enough likes though.
Sometimes, others share their opinions and lived-in experience not to give you insight, but because to speak is to human. Sonder on that, whatever your generation.
I am aware the oldest writing is of a merchant swindling. I am aware of the atrocities respected elders have carried out against the Village children, all villages.
I am not here to insight you; use your own faculties for that.
I am aware the oldest writing is of a merchant swindling.
You are an arrogant fool. Blah blah blah. BTW the oldest written text is probably the Code of Ur-Nammu. It’s not the Complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir, as I assume you’re comment referred to.
I mean, every criticism you level at the parents sounds like people worried that if they call police its going to go badly.
I have a severely autistic son. There is literally no circumstance where I would call the police for any event involving him. Unless there is a dead body on the floor, they are not getting a call.
I’m in a weird dichotomy where I need to be sure he knows to trust police in case somehow he’s alone and needs help one day, while at the same time realizing that if he gets to that point he’s probably fucked, and praying there is never, ever a time where he interacts with police without my wife or I between him and them. I can’t say “look for a fireman” or “look for an ambulance” because there isn’t always one of them around. But you never have to wait too long to see a cop.
Hopefully if that ever happens, he’ll stumble across one of the less trigger-happy ones.
Here’s a hypothetical for you, if your son had an episode and took someone hostage with a knife, you wouldn’t call the police?
Sure, OK, you have found a corner case. Bravo, I guess? We can pretend I was using the modern definition of the word “literally.” 😉
It doesn’t change the overall point.
Here’s a hypothetical for you, which is far more likely than your own for an autistic kid. My son doesn’t even have the concept of holding someone hostage, and I venture to guess this is true for lots of others on the spectrum.
Let’s say he has a knife in his hand because that’s what he happened to have in his hand (somehow) when his fight or flight mechanism was triggered, and now he’s massively overstimulated, and in a meltdown. He’s not trying to hurt anyone (I’m not convinced he knows stabbing someone is an option a knife provides), but he’s waving it around because he is very active with his arms when he’s overstimulated, and he might even try to grapple with someone while holding it, again not really recognizing the potential for great harm. It’s going to be a real challenge to get it from him safely, and someone could get badly injured.
Edited to add - I read the story in OP, or I read about Linden Cameron, or I read about Elijah McClain (and others) and that’s my son there, or may as well be. Elijah McClain especially - heartbreaking. Nothing about any of those circumstances seems like an outcome I couldn’t imagine with any given group of police. I have no faith that more than a vanishingly small percentage would even see the problem with how these situations were handled, let alone try to do it differently.
Please, I hope you didn’t take my hypothetical as an attack
I kinda took it as a bit of a strawman, even if unintentional. That’s why I contrasted with a more reasonable one.
I appreciate that your intent is not to defend police regarding OP or in general. However, as I said elsewhere, are there actually other circumstances where I’d call police? Probably. My original statement was (slightly) hyperbolic.
However, is it MY fault that I need to do this calculus about whether the folks paid to help might kill my child instead? No, it’s not, and I won’t apologize for it.
Police have earned their reputation.
If I can’t count on them to help without killing me or people I love needlessly, I’m not going to call them. I would think anyone, even a cop, would understand this fundamental requirement.
My cousin is no longer living, he had a heart attack; however, despite his inability to control his strength, I did allow him to be around my kids, but never alone and never without me being on pins and needles the entire time. Its sad to say that, but ultimately I am just glad he and them got to interact. It brought joy to both of them equally, I’m sure.
I’m sorry for the sad ending to your story, but glad that there were opportunities for joy along the way. These situations are tough, I get it.
I will always advocate that a big area where police could improve their standing with the communities they serve is to always strive toward better, non-lethal handling of situations where the circumstances are appropriate; however, handling individuals with behavioral / mental disabilities isn’t simple…
Nearly every single time I have seen someone make this particular excuse for police, a nurse or other staff from a healthcare facility will crop up to point out that they do it all day every day without having to kill people.
What I’m stating is that everyone involved had a part in passing the buck of responsibility to the next party until ultimately the end result was almost assuredly going to be bodily harm to Yong Yang.
Fair, but I go back to my original comment. Possibly the parents would have behaved differently if they had any faith the police would have. As it turns out, the police didn’t, they did what every parent of a special needs child fears.
true, but in inpatient settings they have tools at their disposal and a context supporting safety that you lack. they have - locked doors, lots of people who can be summoned, people trained to restrain, injectable medication. probably other stuff i’m not thinking about. there’s likely also an increased understanding of that person’s issues, level of risk, and current medication and sobriety. even several hours of observation plus a secure environment gives staffers an advantage police lack.
so i work in mental health. it is very likely that i will have to call police on a client at some point. i have training that works well in some circumstances, but there are limits. i have, in fact, been one of the people here on lemmy that has pointed out people working with others with mental illness and disability manage things without guns.
i think police need training to work with people like this and to de-escalate in general. i think i lot of them need treatment for their own PTSD. i think they fucked up here.
but i don’t think it’s realistic either to think that they can, in practice, handle things the same way a nurse with many years of experience and additional tools can. and i would also point out that many social workers (not my profession but related, just the last field i saw stats on) have been assaulted by their clients.
i think the parents could have handled it better. i think it’s possible cultural attitudes toward mental illness or other factors unique to the family played a part in their decision-making.
and as another parent of a person with developmental disability (plus serious mental illness), i think it is wise to prepare yourself and your child for how you might handle circumstances in which you or someone else needs to call for help. i don’t think it is safest for your child or for you (or others, obviously) for you to refuse to call until there is a body.
but i also understand that your experience and your child are not the same as mine.
i just wish the cops hadn’t fucked up, and i wish the family had done it differently. for all the good that does.
i don’t think it is safest for your child or for you (or others, obviously) for you to refuse to call until there is a body.
Man a little hyperbole brings out all the haters. 🙂
i think police need training to work with people like this and to de-escalate in general. i think i lot of them need treatment for their own PTSD. i think they fucked up here.
but i don’t think it’s realistic either to think that they can, in practice, handle things the same way a nurse with many years of experience and additional tools can. and i would also point out that many social workers (not my profession but related, just the last field i saw stats on) have been assaulted by their clients.
All your points are reasonable. But I have to weigh all other factors against the likelihood that cops are going to show up and harm or kill my child unnecessarily.
Are there actually other circumstances where I’d call police? Probably. Is it MY fault that I need to do this calculus about whether the folks paid to help might kill my child instead? No, it’s not, and I won’t apologize for it.
I’d try to be understanding with the parents, but I admit family waiting too long is a problem. I remember watching this video and getting frustrated at every missed opportunity…
I mean if you need help, you can always ask a neighbour for help. Would be useful if everyone had a mancatcher pole as well, as messed up as the implications of everyone in society having a mancatcher is.
I can’t speak for anyone else, and I am not in this situation myself, thankfully, but I wouldn’t know my neighbors well enough to ask them, sad as that is.
I’m in no better spot, but this is the crux of the problem, isn’t it - too many of us don’t have a strongly-enough bound local community to get assistance with stuff like this without involving the cops.
I don’t have any medical debt at the moment, and I think there are probably some better long-term things we could spend our extremely valuable and limited political capital on, so naturally I strongly support this because I’m not a fucking inhuman monster.
When I was young my parents introduced me to some old school Communists; folks who’d fought in the Spanish Civil War and been blacklisted in the 1950s.
One of the stories they told was that back in 1968 the oldtimers were warning people to vote for Hubert Humphrey because they knew how bad Nixon would be, Too many young folks then thought ‘both sides are the same.’
Assuming you’re in the LGBT spectrum … sorry to say even there you might not be safe if Trump gets a second term. Things have softened for the LGB so those folks might be okay, but trans folks … I’d be worried.
It also weakens purple states and national power when blue voters move out of purple states… Personally, I’d highly encourage folks moving to purple states to turn them more blue.
Michigan or Pennsylvania might be a good choice. I keep holding out for Ohio, but we need to give the gerrymandering issues (hopefully we finally will this year).
As a trans person in a deep blue state, I’m hoping my state’s politics give me just enough buffer time that I can find a way to GTFO before the gestapo comes for me
Yeah, nowhere is confirmed safe. Fascism is attempting to ascend. Welcome to the 1930s, get a passport and fill a backpack with non perishable calorie dense food.
Living in Ohio with my trans husband, we’re moving to Vermont this summer to get away from it all. I feel like I’m shirking my duty by taking our votes with us, but we really don’t want to be here come November. Ohio has gone to Trump two for two, and I’m not feeling lucky on number three.
Go to Vermont. Like, seriously. Even though that state has a republican governor, Vermont is like one of the few states that gives a shit about a lot of rights.
Can you lay out a detailed plan showing Biden exactly what to do? Something that covers not just the Palestinians and the Israelis, but alos the iranians, the sryians, the russians, the Saudis, and all the other interested and highly armed parties in the region?
I have no idea how to restart a problem that’s been formenting since 1948, do you?
Yes I agree it’s upsetting when the choice placed in front of you is too reductive. I know exactly how you feel. But sometimes that’s how life is. What’s your choice?
Biden is dealing with a hugely complex issue that has baffled diplomats for over a century.
My choice is to trust Biden. The other option is to not vote for him and hope that Trump doesn’t do more of the stuff he did last time; allow mobs to kill innocent people; destroy the economy; roll back enviromental laws; roll back LGBTQ+ laws; make abortion a punishable offence; and Trump would probably give Israel more nukes.
The communist party of America consistently votes democrat and doesn’t run a candidate. Same with the American Nazi party and republicans.
My attitude is simple, deal with the problems you can impact. The 2024 elections will not result in a loss of support for Israel. A fascist wants to run a coup in America. That’s on the table, he’s running for president. That’s a problem we can deal with.
There’s a line from the last season of ‘The West Wing’ that I always think of.
It’s election Day and the GOP and Dem campaign managers run into each other in the hotel bar. One turns to the other and tells this story.
"Got into the cab at the airport and started chatting with the cab driver. He’s a really smart guy and we’re having a great chat. Just before I get out I ask him who he’s voting for today.
"He shakes his head. Damn, he tells me, I forgot it was election Day.’
Yepppp, I’ve had to tell so many people. I think it’s one of the benefits I got from being raised by a dyed in the wool democrat. We’d argue over a lot as I was pretty radical even as a teenager, but she taught me the value of voting and participating in the democratic process. And arguing with her taught me the value of convincing everyday folks of your position.
I hate to tell the demsocs that we probably won’t elect away the capital holding class, I’d love it if we could, but we won’t. But we sure as shit can fail to vote to keep our worker protections and environmental protections. And we can vote to get a better situation, it just won’t be a revolution all on its own.
We watched Donald do worse than Watergate on live news broadcasts.
Hmm, what to do? Better throw my ballot in the trash, because I am against genocide. If anything gets worse under this openly racist putsch planner screeching about dictatorship and absolute immunity, well, there was no way to have seen that coming, right?
I mean I dunno maybe they shouldn’t have ran a guy named hubert humphrey, sounds like the name you’d give to a fictional whale in a children’s novel hoo lee
And he’s always been a lying manipulative piece of shit too.
Exemplifying that here - he actually does get unlimited strikes if there’s a legal reason that juror shouldn’t be there (e.g. if they say, “I’m not going to consider the evidence, I’ve already made up my mind.”) He’s only limited to 10 strikes without having a legal basis for them, but his followers are going to see Trump’s whining and walk away with the impression that his lawyers are forced to spend those 10 strikes on “I’ve already made up my mind” jurors.
Trump supporters already have the impression that all the potential jurors are out to get Trump, because their whole worldview necessitates a constant attitude of victimhood.
I’m not familiar with New York jury procedure, but I vaguely recall reading that – not specific to New York – typically there are unlimited “for cause” removals, and a finite number of “not for cause”. Like, you can object to someone who isn’t going to actually do a sane job as a juror.
Strike for cause (also referred to as challenge for cause or removal for cause) is a method of eliminating potential members from a jury panel in the United States.
During the jury selection process, after voir dire, opposing attorneys may request removal of any juror who does not appear capable of rendering a fair and impartial verdict, in either determining guilt or innocence and/or a suitable punishment.[1] An example would be a potential juror in a murder case, where the sentencing options include the death penalty and a lesser sentence (such as life without parole), who states that they “would sentence a defendant to death if found guilty”; such a statement may indicate the person’s unwillingness to fairly consider a life without parole sentence.
Unlike a peremptory challenge (the number of which are limited by the court during voir dire, and unless a Batson challenge is raised the challenge is automatically granted) there is no limit to the number of strikes for cause that attorneys on either side of a case can be granted. However, also unlike a peremptory challenge, a strike for cause must state a specific reason (in the example above, the reason would be the juror’s bias against a non-death penalty sentence) and be granted by the trial judge; often both attorneys and sometimes the judge will question the juror being challenged.
If one attorney moves to strike a juror for cause but the judge rejects the motion, the attorney may still use a peremptory challenge (if they have any remaining) to strike the juror, and on appeal may raise a claim that the motion should have been granted but, because it was not, the attorney had to either use a peremptory challenge or seat a biased juror.
Following the announcement of our ‘Romeo & Juliet’ cast, there has been a barrage of deplorable racial abuse online directed towards a member of our company. This must stop.”
I’m guessing the racist jerks complaining about the casting would be really upset if they knew that Juliet was played by a dude named Robert Goffe in the very first performance of the play in 1597. source These bigots are so busy complaining about a replacement in race for the actor playing Juliet that they’re not even consistent asking for Juliet to be played the original gender of the actor in the first performance. Where is your consistency, bigots?
Also observe how those “replacement in race” people are completely silent on the 3 body problem show that made pretty much all of the Chinese characters from the book into westerners
He’s not a samurai, but Japan needed a white guy to tell them that samurai were an important part of their historical tradition, otherwise they might have forgotten.
Just to clarify to anyone who hasn’t watched it, his character was NOT Japanese, he was an American soldier brought to Japan to train Japanese recruits before being captured by the samurai and slowly learning their ways. I shouldn’t even NEED to say that, but we apparently live in a world where characters having their ethnicities swapped with no explanation or forethought or deeper meaning is just a matter of course now.
who said everybody is completely silent? nobody in the states aside from sci Fi nerds knew about 3 body until now. and for all the Chinese people I’ve asked, myself included, who read the book before the show came out are pissed they replaced the Chinese hero characters with not Chinese people and made all the Chinese people the bad guys. it’s fucked and not a correct comparison here…
I understand what you’re going for, but it was likely played by a male because women weren’t allowed to perform.
You’re almost there. Keep going!
To quote another Shakespeare play (The Tempest): “What’s past is prologue”.
The reason the black actor for Juliet is receiving threats is because they don’t want her to be allowed to perform. So those historically that were so intolerant of a woman performing on stage that we see as silly and backwards are equally silly and backwards as today’s racists threatening this modern day actor for the part of Juliet.
to be honest, I think you’re incorrect here and your comparison isn’t accurate here. a true comparison to men playing an Italian Juliet would be the black actors in questions playing italian people that are specifically written in the source material… which is weird and color washing. no ambiguous “they’re a fairy tale people” stuff. if they plan on keeping to the feel and historical context of the play (which I can’t tell from their marketing materials), then it’s honestly super weird for black actors to play white people. are they going to use Italian accents? are they all Moores now? or is canon thrown out the window? if so, why not just make a Lion King type production where it’s based on the Shakespeare story instead of just play itself? why can’t production companies create original, creative roles for bipoc actors that are memorable and put them in a spotlight in a positive way instead of doing this played out controversial marketing shit that companies KNOW will stir up trouble to generate interest on their productions.
to be honest, I think you’re incorrect here and your comparison isn’t accurate here. a true comparison to men playing an Italian Juliet would be the black actors in questions playing italian people that are specifically written in the source material…
You’re welcome to your opinion of course. I think you’re trying very hard to make the “Italian” part relevant, for Romeo and Juliet, but it feels like thats an argument grasping at straws. Yes, the story is about Italians, but the original actor in 1597, Robert Goffe, wasn’t Italian either he was English source. No one, except you, has trying to make any actors playing this role across the last 450 years contingent on being Italian.
then it’s honestly super weird for black actors to play white people.
Oh? I think you should really employ some self reflection why you arrived at that statement. Why does that make you so uncomfortable? These are actors standing on a stage, wearing costumes, speaking monologues to an audience, and some characters pretending to fight and stab each other to death. The sets are made from cardboard, plywood, and the cheapest paint they can buy. Why is it you can suspend disbelief around all those other things that don’t match reality, but when it comes to the skin color of an actor, its a bridge too far?
When the actor Leslie Lloyd Odom Jr, a black actor, played the role of the actual historical figure Aaron Burr in the original Broadway production of Hamilton, were you equally uncomfortable? Were you broken out of the story of Hamilton’s life and unable immerse yourself in history because a black man was acting the part of a historically white charactor? If so, I would have figured it would have been the awesome hip-hop numbers that weren’t quite period correct, not the color of skin of an actor.
why can’t production companies create original, creative roles for bipoc actors that are memorable and put them in a spotlight in a positive way
That’s is already happening.
instead of doing this played out controversial marketing shit that companies KNOW will stir up trouble to generate interest on their productions.
I don’t think they’re only casting these actors to stir up controversy. Lloyd Odom Jr was amazing in Hamilton! Nothing about the color of his skin subtracted from my enjoyment of the play. He’s a powerhouse of an actor that absolutely nailed that role.
Why do you feel we, as a society, should be gatekeeping the last 500+ years of western storytelling to only white actors? You would stand before a room of 100 actors, perhaps 40 of them non-white and proclaim proudly “these hundreds of years of script are off limits to you, because you’re not white”?
To your first point, English play, English actors. Europeans playing Europeans. not weird. very basic concept.
Why does that make you so uncomfortable?
because if it were the other way around for any other race, it would make me uncomfortable also. I don’t want Europeans to be casted as Asian characters in a classic Asian story. or Europeans playing Africans in a classic African play. this would largely be considered white washing and is largely frowned upon.
Leslie Lloyd Odom Jr
You largely ignored my crucial statement that if the medium wants to keep the FEEL and historical context, then casting consideration is appropriate. if you make a historical rap musical, then the rules are different. clearly LMM was not trying to capture the FEEL of that historical period.
Even if you don’t think this is controversial marketing, it still is. it’s causing a stir and we’re talking about it. when it comes out, well both at least check it out probably in some form or another.
You would stand before a room of 100 actors, perhaps 40 of them non-white and proclaim proudly “these hundreds of years of script are off limits to you, because you’re not white”?
yes, if I’m a casting director trying to cast actors for authentic white characters.
College loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Simple as that.
With lenders knowing that the government will make sure they get paid, they’re happy to loan out any amount of money to anyone regardless of credit worthiness, because they take on literally zero risk.
Then colleges realize the same, and jack up their prices in turn. The feedback loop brings us to where we are today. There is no market (or other) force putting any downward pressure on tuition costs, at all. This is the inevitable result.
Yes Biden is basically running on the idea of solving a lot of the problems he created. He spent most of his life in government. Those of us who are informed came to terms with that in 2020
None of us can see the future. Doing something in 2005 maybe made some sense at the time. Now he can see the chain from there to now and realizes it wasn’t good or needs fixing. It’s better than ignoring it.
Plenty of people knew what he did was armful read the article I posted. He was getting paid by the banks and credit lenders at the time. Super ethical dude.
This isn’t the first time. He’s just as responsible for the rise in incarceration. He tried to vote in a constitutional amendment to make sure states could overturn Roe v Wade. He was pro capital punishment until like five years ago. He did so much horrible shit over the years it’s hard to keep up.
But now it’s trust me bro, just vote for me one more time and I’ll undo all the horrible shit I did
Not so much “came to terms” with it as much as “this dumb motherfucker is the only way we escape Trump. I hate him and his policies but I’ll vote for him I fucking guess.” Just like where we are now, but now many are even more pissed because it was already supposed to be just one term of a lesser evil before we’d have new options. Now goal posts are being moved and we all have to do it AGAIN for an asshole like Joe Biden who does not deserve it.
Yes this is generally true but I don’t feel like it’s fair to the colleges/universities who work to keep tuition and tuition increases in check. There are lots of decent public universities that have more reasonable tuition. The public university in my smallish city is about 10k a year for in-state. Not necessarily saying that’s ideal for everyone or cheap but it’s a far cry from these places pushing it to 40, 60, 100+k a year.
I don’t like the states politics, and it’s part of the reason we left, but I lived in Houston for a number of years and had a great time. It was a wonderful state with good people, great food, and we did plenty outside. Although it was definitely too hot and muggy.
But I understand that this is Lemmy and it’s only black and white so if we dislike one thing about a state, everything about it has to be completely shitty.
OR, all the things you liked about it can be found in any other state, and thus is not enough to elevate Texass out of shit-tier status regardless of your personal bias?
I never ranked it at all. I even noted that the bad politics is part of the reason we left.
You’re projecting your own bias against everything in the state based on it’s politics. But I assure you that if you think everything in the state sucks because their politics suck, well it’s your a bias alone here.
I’ll give it this, while I was there cost of living was cheaper. Good large modern gyms, and people that are generally happy to talk to you and be friends with you (this was in Dallas). But honestly it’d be hard for anyone to pay me to live there long term, it would have to be a lot of money. And that’s what I noticed, most people are there for the money.
My comment is more so to counter the Texas nationalists who think it’s the greatest place in the world, it’s not, not by a long shot. Aside from the hypercorporate virtual reality existence there is not much else there. There are a lot of places I’d move to before I move to Texas.
My wife was offered a higher paying job in a much lower cost not living area, but it was in Texas. We didn’t stay. So I’m kind of in the same boat. while your criticism of strip malls is valid, I did find that outside of it there was a lot of natural beauty.
Yeah I’m sure the fact that we were in Houston made a difference for my diverse family. It is the most diverse city in the country, and we had an openly gay mayor.
Back when the Internet was still just a tiny little baby I met a girl online that was extremely cool and legit attractive (no catfish I swear). She lived in Houston, still does actually, I still stalk her sometimes – and I seriously came pretty close to moving down there to be with her for real, but it just kinda faded away before I got around to taking action.
I know it’s dumb but I honestly believe in alternate universes that split off when certain decisions are made, and I believe there’s a universe where I moved down there and had a whole bunch of little Texan children with her. They would have dark hair like her and big eyes like her and pointy noses like me, and they would play in the playground across the street while she and I sat on the front porch and drank domestic beer with some underground record on the turntable, cranked up loud so we could hear it through the open windows.
However, this is the first I’ve heard that it’s humid in Houston. I thought it was like Arizona but with more Cadillacs and cowboy hats. That alternate universe in which I married [name redacted] just went from being mystic and idyllic to being horrific. And I know you didn’t mean to do that. I know sometimes we hurt people by accident. But you destroyed something beautiful today, and I thought you should know.
lol. This is great. I remember someone referring to it as “a boiling swamp” and that has always stuck with me. I’m not sure where you are now, but if it’s the NE/Mid Atlantic, I would often describe it as “you know those two weeks of August that are just miserably hot and humid? Yeah, well it’s that from May through October.” I don’t even get how people existed down there before AC. Jan/Feb are beautiful tho. Cool and dry.
But I do remember one day I was sitting in the garage, on a lawn chair, drinking a Shiner Bock. I was in my underwear and watching my kids, my younger one in just a diaper, and they were playing in the puddles right out in front of garage. And I was like “shit, I’ve gone full Texan.” lol
When you say “most of the US” do you mean the Midwest? Because that’s mostly true. Prairie is kinda garbage imo. (I’m sure it’s all very ecologically necessary, I’m just talking about whether it’s nice to be in.)
But outside of the Midwest, the US has a shit ton of forests, some hardcore deserts, a couple of mountain ranges here and there… Even Florida swampland is pretty cool if you’re not considered edible to gators. There’s definitely some featureless bullshit but usually we put a top secret military base in those bits that have aliens and zombie virus labs etc, so there’s even stuff to do there
I’ve never actually been to Texas, but I’ve always wondered what it looks like in those big empty spots on the map. I assume it’s just big parking lots.
I’m just going to leave a time-stamped link to the unedited video because there are a couple apologists in here that are absolutely ridiculous.
The officers identify themselves exactly once at 2:07, a car alarm starts going off at 2:18 and noticeably startles the officer wearing the cam, at 2:23 one of the officers says “someone’s coming”, and at 2:26 the syllable “Dro-” is interrupted by both officers completely unloading their magazines into the door/window.
It actually doesn’t even look like the door was open and maybe the victim was trying to peek out the window?
So how exactly should she have handled this situation to have avoided someone trying to randomly murder her in her own home?
Okay, fair enough. To counter, officers typically have to make split second decisions that can mean life and death. They don’t want to die, just like you and me. They go to the home, it’s clear someone broke in. They announce themselves, 15 minutes later, someone comes walking to the door holding a gun. Now, how SHOULD have the cops handled the situation? Again, it’s SO easy to say “well, they should have done this…or that…” when it’s not you constantly worried about whether or not you’re going to die every time you put on your work uniform.
Now, how SHOULD have the cops handled the situation? Again, it’s SO easy to say “well, they should have done this…or that…”
Here’s the thing…I don’t have to provide the answer to this question. I am not a “trained professional” that is paid specifically to handle these kind of situations.
What I can say without a doubt is there is zero excuse for this woman being shot. If officers are not able to go through their workday without shooting an innocent person then either they shouldn’t be a cop or they shouldn’t carry a weapon. Period.
A police officer’s discomfort or cowardice does not supersede an innocent citizen’s rights.
I’ll provide an answer, then. The cops should handle it the same way the rest of us already do, which is to positively identify your target and what they’re doing before bucking off. It’s pretty easy to figure out! Even Cletus the beer-swilling deer hunter can do it. It does, however, require manning up and overcoming your paranoid little fears about every scrap of shadow being a scary oogie boogie man out to get you… Which one would hope (ha!) that a competent policeman has already been trained to do. As part of, you know, being a policeman.
If anyone can’t handle the heat, they should get the hell out of the kitchen. I hear there’s a shortage of janitors, if motherfuckers want to do some good in the world.
You know, us regular people have to do this in every situation and also have to have robotic encyclopedic knowledge of all relevant self defense and firearms laws at federal, state, county, and municipal levels at all times, plus be able to have a photographic eidetic memory to be able to recount the exact sequence of events down to the nanosecond without the slightest hint of contradiction by any outside source no matter how irrelevant, and to be able to explain to the cops, judge, and jury with airtight millimetric precision exactly why we were justified in even drawing a weapon on someone, let alone firing it, or else we’ll get prosecuted and locked up. It seems to me while private citizens are expected to always and unerringly be able to clear this incredibly high bar at the drop of a hat in any given life-threatening situation, it shouldn’t be too fucking tough for a bunch of “highly trained” policemen to be able to achieve the same performance. Right?
It’s an order of magnitude more dangerous to get in your vehicle and drive somewhere than it is to be a cop. Is this how you’d defend someone who committed vehicular manslaughter due to negligence?
I bartend. Bad neighborhood, no security. When I work, it’s just me behind the bar. Same with my coworkers. There have been plenty of times over the years when shitheads have come into the bar looking to start problems, plus the usual nonsense that happens with a room fun of drunk people. I’ve never shot anybody over it. Neither have any of my coworkers.
Look for another job if you can’t handle the stress of your current one? Don’t just unload your lethal weapon at the slightest hint of potential threat?
No other western democracy has such well armed and yet poorly trained police as those found in the USA.
Name me another “democracy” with over 300 million people, from 1000’s of different cultures and backgrounds…who’s doing it right? The point is, you all seem to make it sound like it’s so easy… there’s not another country on the planet in a similar situation as the US.
So, what are you proposing? The United States just stop getting involved in everyone’s business? Isn’t that what Trump was about? Yet, here we are… damn if you do, damn if you don’t.
Thousands of deaths per year at the hand of police is inexcusable. “It’s too hard” is a shit response to “why can’t you do your job without routinely murdering people”.
“Shoot anyone they want” is a exaggeration. There’s over 1 million police officers in this country, over 30,000 police departments… how many would you say are just “going out and shooting anyone they want?”
Far too many for my comfort. The problem isn’t just that a lot of them do, it’s that when they do, they almost always get away scot-free. I can count the number of cops that I’ve seen actually get punished for murdering someone on one hand. I wish the number of innocent people they’ve gotten away with killing was so small.
Remove upper limit on IQ for cops for all precincts that have one.
Cops should be trained for longer than a hairdresser.
No more Killology seminars.
Personal liability, including criminal liability for egregious shit like locking prisoners in cells covered with feces or burying corpses behind the HQ.
Its impossible to distinguish a combatant from a noncombatant by the mere presence of a gun. Half of households have a gun. Even if an intruder was on scene how would you avoid murdering the home owner if you shoot first and ask questions later. You communicate and take the risk of harm to yourself in order to ensure you don’t shoot innocent people or you turn in your badge like the pussy bitch you are.
For clarity why do you think its hard to say wait for the door to open and say drop the gun while pointing your guns at the person. Note if they freeze like deer in your headlights in fear you may need to repeat your response and wait for compliance.
completely unloading their magazines into the door/window.
You’re not exaggerating here. It takes about 8 seconds for the one officer to reload the weapon once the mag’s been emptied by spasmodic panic-shooting, and while we can deduct time used to talk on the radio, it didn’t stop what looked like 40-50 rounds being pumped into the general vicinity of a person.
I have cops in the family, and I get a good idea of the day-to-day grind their soul endures in my country’s best-trained and worst-paid police force, and I’ll be among hte first to review something critically. There’s nothing mitigating about this; it’s objectively horrific.
Edit: ho-oleee shit, she survived.
Pouncy, a friend of the woman who lived in the apartment, sustained a total of five gunshot wounds to the leg and torso, according to her attorney, Ben Crump, who reacted to the release of the video on Monday, calling it “evidence of the unnecessary and excessive force.”
None of Pouncy’s vital organs were struck by bullets, but the long-term effects of her injuries are yet to be determined, according to Crump. He told ABC News that Pouncy is traumatized by the incident.
I hope she can live and sue the cops so hard it’ll change their training, and these two will split between telling their story of idiocy and parking enforcement for the rest of their careers.
Baby steps. They actually get some punishment. The cops that shot the wrong make, model, and color car in the Dorner saga didn’t even get a slap on the wrist.
This is so insane. It actually does look like the police officers completely freaked and just started blasting and then got into a kind of panicked frenzy.
Basically the only way to be safe from police is to not have windows or have bulletproof glass or some kind demilitarized zone so you can see who is coming without coming “out of cover”. Have a video phone to talk to would be visitors.
Exactly. Synonyms for “conformity” include submission, obedience, surrender.
Important to keep in mind that the objective of public education is to prepare a productive workforce while conditioning that workforce to stay on its knees.
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