Speaking of books, I've said it before but it bears repeating: this one is a very good history of how we've gotten where we are now. Least surprising spoiler ever: much of the blame lies with the LAPD. Plus, Balko is a good Twitter follow.
Migod, the bunker must have flooded. @Marso should be along any second now... ETA: There's no poster here named naval. Has @Tuttle gotten lost on his way to Stormfront?
Free markets are also backed up by physical power. If you try to take my physical or intellectual property, I can (at least hypothetically) get you thrown into jail or have a fine assessed against you. Which if you fail to pay it can get you thrown into jail, or get your assets seized. And that's accepting for discussion's sake that "free markets" exist in a meaningful way, given that they have been shaped by a history of violence, favoritism, rules manipulation, etc.
That's the part he's not getting. Because people protesting bad cops and police brutality are criminals anyway. and, bad cops are not all cops. and ... and ... BLM!!! is killing white people!!!!
It may be cliche, but the issue is not just the quantity of pages but the quality. I don't know if you personally or the reporters you have worked with have looked at a disciplinary file. I obviously haven't looked at his or Kenosha's. But based on the tweet, he had 9 complaints. So an average of 20ish pages per complaint. He had two shootings, at least one of which were fatal, both of which were presumably investigated. Depending on how Kenosha PD keeps its records, a shooting investigation could easily be a couple hundred pages in and of itself, since they could contain: all the multiple underlying police reports (let's say 4 reports at 5 pages each) Coroner's report or medical records (5-20 pages) Subpoenas for records (3-10 pages) 911 recording info (2-5 pages) photographs from the scene (5-10 pages) statements after the fact from the witnesses (let's say just 3 witnesses -- two officers on scene plus a civilian-- have transcribed statements of 30 pages apiece) the final report of the investigator into the shooting (3-5 pages) Internal memos discussing steps taken in the investigation or other bureaucratic stuff (5-20 pages) External correspondence about the investigation (2-10 pages) Any lawsuit arising from the incident as well as records from that (5-200 pages) an index/log of the evidence/steps taken in the investigation (2-5 pages) If the shootings were justified, then there is no reason to fire him over those. Chances are, whatever is in the other parts of the file aren't fireable offenses.
I was going to say. Market-worshippers have a throbbing boner for the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and those times were DEFINED by robber barony, and ruthless homicidal union-busting. Where are they getting their force-less libertopia from? Cuz it never happened in any history book I read.
Indeed. See also the enormous tarrifs and other protectionist measures designed to prop up local industry and keep superior exports out. No country has ever developed their economy while adhering to any version of the "free market". It always takes very high levels of state intervention. Libertarianism is what happens when right-wingers start believing the lies they tell other people to keep them down.
Here's another article. This one will piss off both sides. For the "Rittenhouse is a hero" people, continue reading. Author is just as critical of the protesters. https://www.bullshido.net/anatomy-o...UttFB5DUjv30TTYeW7fmQ77GzuNFxAjd6qeacCT7_CrNU
Which should have gotten his ass tossed off the force. Nine complaints in a disciplanary file? What was the time scale? Especially considering the fatal shooting was on the first day back following a suspension.
Here's the thing. Neither you nor I nor anyone here knows anything about the nature or the validity of any of these complaints, really. For all any of us knows, they were nine serious complaints, all of which should have been shown 100 percent true if legitimate and fair investigations were done. For all we know, the non-shooting complaints were about minor things and demonstrably false. For all we know, they were somewhere in between. Nine excessive force complaints may sound like a lot and to invoke a cliche where there's smoke there can be fire. But I think it only fair that there's some more substantial proof of wrongdoing than someone got accused of wrongdoing a lot. The tweet has a link to a local news channel that got his personnel file. It appears from the story that Torres has been a police officer since at least 1998. https://www.fox6now.com/news/office...ages-of-documents-reveal-tale-of-two-officers To me, nine complaints over the course of about two decades (the stories are from 2015 or so) doesn't seem like a lot. The one highlighted in the story has him accused of excessive force in dealing with a woman after a bar fight. And again, could be the woman is right and he used excessive force on her. But from the story, it sounds like she doesn't even remember what he did to get her on the ground. Any injuries she had could have been from him, or it could have been from the fight. The other allegations aren't even mentioned in detail. That strikes me as odd. It seems like if they were serious, the news would have at least summarized them. As for the two shootings: One of the links in the tweet talks about the March 4 shooting being ruled justified. https://www.kenoshanews.com/opinion...cle_d61e0428-274b-57c2-b3f2-bab0d0e9ebdf.html An appellate court ruled that the fatal shooting was reasonable. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3793665026262061295&hl=en&as_sdt=6&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr Unless there's something demonstrably wrong with either of these findings, I don't see why the shootings should be the basis for firing him.
I know of no other career where one can have a disciplinary file that is longer than most of the Harry Potter books and still remain employed. No one invites that kind of bad luck without really, really putting effort at being a compete asshole or being Dayton Kitchens-level of incompetent. More often than not, it's both.
