Trouble in America

It's hard for some to understand for a lot of reasons, make of them what you will:

1. As various events and the insurrection itself show, cops do not just shoot everyone who violates the law and has a weapon. They can and do use other tools, ranging from lesser force to de-escalation to retreat. This will call in to question which options they use in any given situation. Sometimes it's too much force, and sometimes it's not enough.
2. People continue to believe, in part based on myths fed by Hollywood and other sources, that you can reasonably expect a cop to shoot a knife or other weapon out of someone's hand or that a cop should shoot for a wound to the knee or the like rather than shooting center mass.
3. There are too many counter-examples of people who were doing nothing wrong still getting shot due to various factors, as well as misleading narratives about shootings, to not be concerned that in at least some cases that appear justified the facts might prove otherwise.
4. Tribalism does play a factor. There's a bunch of people who might say "blue lives matter" and yet have no sympathy for the predicament the Capitol police officers were in or who want to make Ashlii Babbitt into a martyr. And there's probably a bunvh of people who think that cops generally are quick to use excessive force who don't really challenge how in some cases they can and do show remarkable restraint.

Multiple cops stated that in the insurrection in particular they still believed it was possible they would be harmed if they shot. One literally said 'After I kill 15, what happens to me then?'

Some did mention that it was on moral grounds.

But one pattern remains clear - it's possible to intimidate police into not taking lethal action. While IMO most police aren't bad, there are some that will use violence, even deadly violence, if they feel they can do so with impunity.

For example:

Every time I hear about a cop beating someone with a flashlight, I think of the stop sign joke.

Whilst it's great he was exonerated, none of the cops have been disciplined over this.

It doesn't sound like his thought was wrong.

Yeah, but he was carrying a Mini Draco? Dude was NOT screwing around.

Remember how the Righties kept insisting that all of their terrorists were actually infiltrators from BLM and Antifa?

Yep. Every accusation they make is actually a confession.

This is why I never trust righties in a bathroom anymore.

His defense is self-defense? "They were harassing me." uhmm. .... but .., you traveled from Texas to Portland to ... what? have a cuddle pile? You fucking went there to harass them!! Asshole .....

to be fair, they likely were white supremacists

Also, did you hear the Mayor of Portland got gassed last night?

He’s been outed as a white supremacist by the guy who caught him on video. But, glad it’s been proven.

Good. When this was happening, all of MN Twitter knew he was bad news.

But BLM! But Antiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifaaaa!

Assume what you want about their politics. If looters and vandals face consequences regardless of the t-shirt they wear, I'm happy.