Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Tuesday, November 25. 2014

Whatever fits the narrative

Ron Christie:



 Last year, 76 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty, and I’m hard pressed to name one of them. Yet, high-profile cases such as the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Mr. Brown in the present case have made these names well known across America and around the world. Their sad fame comes at the hands of those who push the narrative that white cops are motivated by racial animus to kill blacks. How else to explain the media ignoring the thousands upon thousands of blacks who die at the hands of other blacks but the sensationalized 24/7 coverage involved when violence is inflicted at the hands of whites towards blacks?


Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 10:57 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

What a crock of sh!t. "Law Enforcement" kill roughly 1000 people each year. How many of THEIR names do you know? Justice MAY have been served in Ferguson. But if so, it was the exception, not the rule.
#1 Mark Matis on 2014-11-25 11:24 (Reply)
" "Law Enforcement" kill roughly 1000 people each year."

Too true.

Used to be we admired cops because of their front-line danger of taking one for us. They protected "us" by placing themselves in danger.

No more. Now, through changed policing philosophies and militarization, they're gunning down innocent people left and right whenever they perceive some danger to themselves.

Now we have SWAT teams throwing flash-bangs into toddlers' cribs simply because, had they raided the right house, someone MIGHT have had a gun.

The police have, especially with the advent of civil forfeiture, become nothing more than another armed and hostile gang. I will call the police for any reason as quickly as I will call the Bloods. Never.

BUT:

Just like the Trayvon case, this is the wrong case to use in support of change.
#1.1 bobby b on 2014-11-26 04:35 (Reply)
One day a bold progressive mayor will challenge the police unions by proposing the mass disarming of their members. A simple solution for a complex problem.
#2 walt moffett on 2014-11-25 12:04 (Reply)
"76 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty"

Ah, fun with statistics....

According to the FBI - "For 2013, 27 officers were killed (all shot except for one struck by a car) as a result of criminal acts."

http://reason.com/blog/2014/11/24/killing-of-police-officers-down-for-seco

even more fun:

"In Utah, You're More Likely to be Shot Dead by a Cop Than a Criminal"

http://reason.com/blog/2014/11/24/in-utah-youre-more-likely-to-be-shot-be
#3 NJSoldier on 2014-11-25 12:22 (Reply)
Sorry Walt--this would not be a "systemic resolution" to a complex problem.

As for white people (non Jewish, non gay)finally getting the courage to get organized it is about time! If you really want to clean up this mess -- support your own!
#4 faculty wife on 2014-11-25 13:37 (Reply)
I happen to support the police, which is an odd stance for a Libertarian.

That is to say, I'd prefer a better solution, but recognize the options available are a political and practical nightmare to implement without a wholesale restructuring of the economic and bureaucratic systems.

In the meantime, recognizing that MOST cops are well-intentioned and focused on community policing is a good place to start.

On the other hand, if I recognize this, then I want the politicians and the cops themselves to recognize there are some bad apples who need to be removed from the bunch, and they should stop protecting the bad cops in an attempt to protect the overall image of the police themselves. People know the truth. The truth is most cops are good, but bad cops create bad situations which spiral out of control.

Ferguson is a weird case for Libertarians to support, and I'm one that is keeping his distance. Libertarians, not all, but many, seem to think the rioters are justified. I don't. I think they are animals.

On the other hand, even if we assume (and this is a very, very difficult assumption to make) that Wilson should have been indicted when the weight of evidence supported his story (hey, even Holder's watchdogs were paying attention to this and there hasn't been a peep from those racist cronies of his), you have to question what the value of an indictment would be.

Wilson likely would have been acquitted on the weight of evidence. You'd have gotten the same result, but done a larger smear job the name of someone who was just doing his job.

Cops probably have the toughest job imaginable when they have to police bad communities. It's a no win situation. When they are doing a good job, they are considered the enemy and they are not wanted. The minute the thugs enter and become belligerent and cause problems, the community laments how "nobody cares about us".

In order to communities to generate good relationships with the police, they need to generate a positive atmosphere for everyone. Ferguson was not a good neighborhood, which is why police presence there was unwelcome. The community never took proactive steps to improve that situation. Communities like that are simply tinderboxes waiting to be set afire by one misstep.

That is how people like Martin and Brown become household names. Never mind that the day before, or the day after, murders took place in each community. The focus will never be on the difficult job the police have in communities that care little for themselves, it will only be on the missteps of those who are assigned to try and make a difference.
#5 Bulldog on 2014-11-25 16:48 (Reply)
So, Bulldog, how many deputies in the Habersham County Sheriff's Office are "good cops"? How many deputies in the Pima County Sheriff's Office are "good cops"? How many deputies in the Fullerton Police Department are "good cops"? Mind you, only FIVE Fullerton officers stood there and watched Manny Ramos beat Kelly Thomas to death and didn't lift a finger or even say a word to stop him. How many deputies in the Lake County Sheriff's Office are "good cops"? And there, what happened to Deputy Richard Sylvester, who murdered Andrew Lee Scott in his own home at 1:30 in the morning? And compare that to what happened to Sylvester's partner, who was honest enough to admit that they had NOT identified themselves as police officers while pounding on his apartment door at that time in the morning. And how many officers in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department are "good cops"? The truth is that most cops are NOT good. They are merely a Praetorian Guard in the very worst sense of the term. Spitting on their very oaths of office to the Constitution and doing whatever they are told. The stench is overwhelming. And it smells like pig.
#5.1 Mark Matis on 2014-11-25 17:33 (Reply)
http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2014/10/national-h8-police-day.html#more
#6 Sam L. on 2014-11-25 18:38 (Reply)
You might try this instead:
http://www.policemisconduct.net/
#6.1 Mark Matis on 2014-11-25 19:01 (Reply)
And these as well:
http://williambscott.com/2014/11/whats-going-on-with-our-police/

http://williambscott.com/2014/11/restore-honor-police-unions-arrogance-breeds-violence/

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-police-are-still-out-of-control-112160_full.html?print#.VHUakJ-c2zd

Your "Law Enforcement" buddies seem to do a damn good job tracking every officer who gets his pinky hurt. Mere Citizens they kill, however, they can't bother to track. The stench is overwhelming.
#6.2 Mark Matis on 2014-11-25 19:11 (Reply)
I want to be on the policeman's side. I want them to be honest protectors of citizens and relentless in their efforts to keep our cities safe. I think there should be an easier system to allow cities/police departments to fire policemen. In any instance where deadly force was used and later review concluded that the force was inappropriate or even that the citizen harmed was innocent of any crime then that policeman should be "let go" and free to find a career field he was a better fit for. The police should not become a mafia with a badge. They should always put citizens first.
#7 GoneWithTheWind on 2014-11-26 10:59 (Reply)
I'll agree with that. But unfortunately, that vision is another quest for Diogenes.
#7.1 Mark Matis on 2014-11-26 15:42 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.