Politics 2: Electric Boogaloo — Page 575

The swatter did an interview apparently. Only listen if you want your blood to boil:
https://www.redstate.com/patterico/2017/12/30/listen-interview-swatter-got-innocent-man-killed-wichita/

The thing is, this story covers a vast cross-section of issues. Police accountability is one, but there’s also things like gaming culture in there.

DominicCobb said:

CatBus said:

Puggo - Jar Jar’s Yoda said:

moviefreakedmind said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-arrest-man-suspected-swatting-preceded-deadly-police-shooting-n833576

Police murder an innocent man based on a fraudulent phone call. The police brutality angle is what people are ignoring here.

Looks like at least half of the feedback on Yahoo News to this article is about the inappropriate police response. Even some police responding saying that the lack of verification before sending in a SWAT team, let alone drawing weapons, was very strange. Nobody seems to be ignoring it.

And it appears the instigator has now been apprehended.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/12/after-swatting-death-in-kansas-25-year-old-arrested-in-los-angeles/

Surprised that they didn’t just kill him.

Yeah

Lord Bucketheads’s Christmas Single (‘A Bucketful of Happiness’ - a Meatloaf inspired ditty):-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebzooSdAbGE

Lord Buckethead’s Christmas Message 2017:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6siUaw_NKU

https://twitter.com/LordBuckethead

Remember, vote for Lord Buckethead.

I for one agree with charging £9k a year for celebs and politicians to have MBEs, KBEs and CBEs etc - https://twitter.com/LordBuckethead/status/947099511570223104 😃

Warbler said:

I don’t know why that is funny.

Like I said, the image of the guy is blurry. But it looks like he has something in his hands resembling a gun that is aimed at the police.

Looks to me like he’s juggling bananas.

Seriously, we can’t see anything clear in that video.

TV’s Frink said:

Even if we could, no one would agree on it #rotjpigmen.

Absolutely. I made the point twice that this kind of disagreement is very common. We see it in politics constantly. We can look at the same exact thing, a story, a video, anything and see something totally different. If people can’t even agree on what happens in a fantasy movie clip, of course we have trouble seeing each other’s points of views in politics.

I read a good memoir, “The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop,” and one of the first stories the cop/author tells is about him seeing a guy pull a knife on another guy in broad daylight in a park. The cop is in his car and hits the gas, knocking down the guy with the knife. And you know what happens, a mob forms of the people there in the park and they start attacking the officer - who they say ran the guy down for no reason. It was like nobody else saw the knife and were more than happy to assume certain facts.

No matter how many times one points out that people think this way, people will be happy to continue insisting they are absolutely right and refuse to entertain any contrary possibility.

Warbler said:

I don’t know why that is funny.

It’s funny because you are willing to justify any police shooting.

Like I said, the image of the guy is blurry. But it looks like he has something in his hands resembling a gun that is aimed at the police.

It doesn’t even matter. He was an innocent man. He had every right to carry around whatever he wanted. Police got one unsubstantiated report, and then went in with the intent to shoot this man to death.

Warbler said:

moviefreakedmind said:

Warbler said:

I don’t know why that is funny.

It’s funny because you are willing to justify any police shooting.

I’m done with this.

You are. It’s always, “Well, he could’ve had a gun.” Even if the person isn’t guilty you still use this excuse to justify police officers shooting people to death.

moviefreakedmind said:

Warbler said:

moviefreakedmind said:

Warbler said:

I don’t know why that is funny.

It’s funny because you are willing to justify any police shooting.

I’m done with this.

You are. It’s always, “Well, he could’ve had a gun.” Even if the person isn’t guilty you still use this excuse to justify police officers shooting people to death.

In the past, I found Warbler quite skeptical of police who shoot people. I think a member who used to frequent this thread caused him to rethink that skepticism, and Warbler is willing to give greater benefit of doubt to police officers. I don’t see Warbler justifying police shooting people, although I don’t see anything that he sees in that video.

It is a justification. It’s always, “He could’ve had a gun.” Well, he didn’t have a gun, and if police have the right to shoot people to death, then they better be trained enough to determine whether or not someone is actually a threat. Too often, they do that incompetently. Also, if we’re going to live in a country where everyone has a God-given right to bear arms, then “he might’ve had a gun” shouldn’t be an excuse to kill somebody.

moviefreakedmind said:

It is a justification. It’s always, “He could’ve had a gun.” Well, he didn’t have a gun, and if police have the right to shoot people to death, then they better be trained enough to determine whether or not someone is actually a threat. Too often, they do that incompetently. Also, if we’re going to live in a country where everyone has a God-given right to bear arms, then “he might’ve had a gun” shouldn’t be an excuse to kill somebody.

I certainly agree that an officer can’t shoot someone just because they might have a gun. But police are legally justified in killing if they act out of a reasonable fear that there is an imminent threat to life or serious bodily harm. Sometimes there might not be a gun but the fear is nonetheless reasonable. Waiting to determine if there “is actually a threat” means it can be too late for the police officer. In this case, given the distance, I don’t know how reasonable the fear was if the guy only maybe seemed to reach toward his waist. The police would likely say the call they received played into their “reasonable fear.”

To see how difficult these cases are, you can look up the shooting of Daniel Shaver. The officer was prosecuted for the killing and found not guilty, under a disturbing set of facts, there is also video.

I think Warbler is saying the officers might have been justified. And maybe. I’m very skeptical given what we do know. We need a lot more information.

I guess the way I see it, police officers sign up for this risk. So if their “reasonable” fear turns out to be unsubstantiated, like if the suspect doesn’t have a gun at all, then they need to be permanently barred from serving in law enforcement and potentially tried depending on the circumstances.

It is now, officially, an election year in America.

Dave Barry’s Year in Review

Surprisingly no mention of Star Wars but it is mostly focused on politics.

My parents had a Dave Barry book which I read in my impressionable youth (I thought it was hilarious), and now whenever I bring it up I get strange looks from my peers.

The article just proves that 2017 has made it a whole lot harder to write something more absurd than current events.