Seattle now has its first warlord. Congrats!

From your own link (emphasis mine):

So I was digging through my books to see if I could find something I could quote to continue this discussion. I didn't find exactly what I was looking for, but I suppose I found what I need instead. I've been feeling a little lost lately and I came across something that I had forgotten about. Upon reflection, I believe you are absolutely right. The following quote is what has allowed me to come to that conclusion, it will now be my signature.

"Sir, suspicion is a virtue, as long as its object is the preservation of the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds... Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force: Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." - Patrick Henry

I'm glad your Freshmen history book helped you realize you were wrong.

because if they don't side with the protesters they will be targeted (pun intended) for future mayhem at worst, loss of customers at best.
Seriously, pretty much every corporation is taking the "but we really care about social injustice!" mindset because if they don't they will be shamed out of business.
But Target has deep, deep pockets so they can absorb any losses. Small businesses (many minority owned) do not.
Please dog-pile if you disagree with what I said!

Okay, now Anc is spooging himself.

So early this morning the city dismantled the temporary barricades SPD put up and the protesters took over when SPD abandoned East Precinct.

And replaced them with concrete barriers.



This seems like a good move on Seattle/SDOTs part. The pedestrian zone has been a hit with local residents and businesses. But the ad hoc nature impacted access to the area for some residents and emergency services. So do a quick traffic analysis, but the barriers where they should go and work with area residents on a long term plan.

This post has been bugging me to be honest.

What exactly is a "justified" killing?

Why is it there are so many "justified" killings?

Just for contrast, Switzerland, Poland, the UK, Iceland, Denmark, Japan, Taiwan and Sweden clocked up a collective total of ten police killings in one year, regardless of justification, compared to the US's 2019 total of 1536.

If those killings genuinely were justified (ie could not be avoided) would you care to tell me again how there's no problem with your gun and law enforcement culture?

48 cops were killed (feloniously - so that doesn't include accidents) in the U.S. in 2019. According to the ACAB crowd all were "justified"!
Anywho "justified" means a "good shoot" meaning there was a reasonable imminent threat to the cop's life or lives of innocent civilians.
As for whether there's a problem with our gun/law enforcement culture, guns aren't going away so I wouldn't get an ulcer over it if I were you, but I'm no doctor.

And yet, in many cases, it's the cop's word on that.

Even if the victim is unarmed.

And the cop had them pinned.

"He reached for my weapon!!"

It's like the gay panic argument only with badges and dead black folk.

So, if those threats to the cops were genuine and in spite of all the evidence we're seeing they don't simply have a trigger happy culture, what does that say about the US?

Is gun culture making it a safer place to be? If so, why the need for cops to be killing people so often?

maybe it used to be the cop's word - but with cameras everywhere that is changing. But even then people who don't know jack shit about making life-and-death decisions & judgements within seconds will still second guess how a cop responds even though they see the videos. I suggest everyone who likes to Monday morning quareterback to go through a police/military scenario training "simulator" to see how hard it is to make the right decision when the shit is hitting the fan from multiple directions and adrenalin hits. My point being things aren't always as cut-and-dried as they seem.

It will all be different if OF's kid is wasted by a cop and they say he was going for their gun. Then it will be a good kid and liar cops because OF does not believe any good comes from brown people. They all deserve to be shot by cops in OF land because every one of them is awful. But don't use a broad brush like he does on white kids. He knows all black people go for the cops guns and cops never lie, but that is not broad brushing at all.

Sure Oldracist.

Pre Covid, my 'hood shuts down all the business lined streets for a pedestrian mall.
As a resident, I hate it, but it's an amazing monthly money injection into the local economy and kind of continues to draw on through non event weekends as well. In the warm months, probably half of the incomes are Sundays.
Oddly, if we barricaded like that (maybe 20 years ago-sigh) the only emergency service affected would be police. There's a huge hospital at the SW corner, and a fire station at the top of the Market.

And the associated loss of income from people who would no longer come and spend because of the perceived unsafeness of it, whether it was true or not.

Emphasis mine. This is something Muricans will never understand. Particularly in my current realm. Face is still trying to figure out why I don't drive. Teh Car is God.

But something I'm noticing in my current 'hood (can't afford Santa Monica anymore) is the number of streets - temporarily, at least - blocked off for (mostly runners) pedestrians. The local Mom & Pop shops continue on as always. In fact, I think they're doing better.

As horrific as the current situation is, the phoenix - i.e., cussed ornery individuals like you and me - will rise.

You've outdone yourself Tererun! You set a new wordforge record! ZERO PERCENT of your entire post is true/accurate. It's 100 percent wrong. Good job! It gives us all something to aspire to.

Where does a perception of "unsafe" come from here?

A lack of police presence? Hardly. Even this far along in gentrification process, this neighbourhood still mostly looks after itself. If we did need police to attend anything or even patrol, it's a fairly short walk/accessible by bike-but we generally don't need'em.

Except the police elsewhere seem to manage just fine.

I'll reiterate again, 8 countries (with a combined population significantly greater than that of the US and greater population density - usually associated with higher crime rates) saw a total of ten police killings in a period during which the US had over 1,500

10 v 1,500

I'm curious what you ascribe such a vast bias to, because I'm thinking it's not down to the police in eight of the safest first world countries, all with strikingly different cultures, history and geography, all being "Monday morning quarterbacks".

On the contrary, I'm thinking they're better trained, more professional and operate in societies which don't have a fetish for the tools of war.

Yeah, the trick here will be shifting back to a localized economy from the dependence on visitor traffic. Gentrification has done more to kill off our traditional businesses and replace them with boutiques and pop up eateries than low level drug and street crime ever could. Besides rising the tide on vessels that weren't designed for the ocean, it's also displaced the customers that relied on them with-you guessed it-temporary/transient clientele.

This whole thing reminds me of another defiance of government authority. This one was settled without tear gas or billy clubs. Watch this explainer video and see if you can figure out what was different.

To quote Johnny Carson, "I did not know that!"

Ignorant Muricans believe that the "United" States has in fact been since united since the Constitution (despite its numerous amendments) is a perfect document.

Kinda like the New Testament.

What I find interesting is the number of people who call themselves atheist but who the Constitution.

Hiya, @Marso!

Relevant to the current discussion:

Your neighborhood doesn't necessarily reflect everyone else's situation. That's what leftforge keeps telling me all the time - just sayin'

you're full of shit Bailey. Every city/county in the U.S. has different requirements! Some places require a four year degree to be a cop, some require two years and yes some require only a HS diploma.
My county hasn't had a cop shoot a suspect in quite some time. The X factor here is people in my county rarely try to physically attack cops. They might try to run when they resist arrest, but they are smart enough to not push their luck.

that's fine.. they can stay in their subdivisions or wherever they spring from.
all they bring is crime anyways.
at least that's what right forge tells me-stranger danger and all that.

They also like the taste of cop boot leather like no other county.

So like it says, you can become a cop with minimal training.

Actually to become a sheriff requires a HS diploma. To become a state trooper requires at least two years of college. Then you would have higher levels of police like detective or perhaps federal police which would probably require at least a bachelors. However, the reality is to be a patrolling town or county cop the HS diploma will do in most cases. I would also say that like any government job the higher your level of education the higher your starting pay grade so some towns may look for better educated police.

That is pretty standard as far as I know.

Speaking of Seattle and its silliness, I stumbled across this today, from Seattle TV station KOMO:


This is from March of 2019, so before the latest waves of nuttiness, but still an interesting report.

What you would expect from Sinclair.

The Seattle Times data guy pulls up the facts and dismantles it.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattl...if-you-look-crime-rates-from-the-80s-and-90s/