12 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. The militarization of cops in the U.S. has gone from bad to international-human-rights-organization-tells-U.S.-to-please-demilitarize-its-cops bad.

   Log in to Reply

   1. Dump does not like being told what to do by international wussies.

      Look for empty threats (because he does not even know that he does not have that authority) to do the opposite.

      Log in to Reply

   2. There is something far-beyond-ironic when we have police breaking up demonstrations against police violence.

      I mean, which side are they on?

      Log in to Reply

2. “It’s gonna be kinda tough to get over this, day by day.”

   George Floyds’ son, yesterday, in Texas. He is right. It shows in the reporting of Jeff Pegues…in the voice and face of Gayle King. (CBS)

   It pervades every moment of the day. I can see the strain in the eyes of my Cat. She is afraid to go to town. I feel the same disinclination.

   Hang in there, America…we CAN make this better.

   Log in to Reply

   1. How to Help 

      Here are some actions homebound people can take to support the George Floyd family, make bail for arrested peaceful protesters, protect journalists, sign petitions, contact officials, etc.

       Resource page From Yahoo News

      In our local community, the Colorado Freedom Fund  project provides bail for jailed folks who can’t make bail. Every year, they do special fundraisers to bring parents home for Father’s Day and Mother’s Day. The CFF was started by local activist and lawyer Elisabeth Epps.

      Log in to Reply

3. The humorous/not humorous moment of the morning:  when someone suggested the White House shutting off the outside lights was almost precisely what he did when he ran out of candy last Halloween.

    

   Log in to Reply

   1. June 2015 v. June 2020. 

      

      Log in to Reply

4. George Will is about as complementary towards Trump as he's ever likely to get:

   This unraveling presidency began with the Crybaby-in-Chief banging his spoon on his highchair tray to protest a photograph — a photograph — showing that his inauguration crowd the day before had been smaller than the one four years previous. Since then, this weak person’s idea of a strong person, this chest-pounding advertisement of his own gnawing insecurities, this low-rent Lear raging on his Twitter-heath has proven that the phrase malignant buffoon is not an oxymoron.

   Those who think our unhinged president’s recent mania about a murder two decades ago that never happened represents his moral nadir have missed the lesson of his life: There is no such thing as rock bottom. So, assume that the worst is yet to come. Which implicates national security: Abroad, anti-Americanism sleeps lightly when it sleeps at all, and it is wide-awake as decent people judge our nation’s health by the character of those to whom power is entrusted. Watching, too, are indecent people in Beijing and Moscow.

   Log in to Reply

   1. complimentary and not complementary

      Log in to Reply

5. For anyone who doesn't believe that Donald T***p is DIRECTLY responsible for the death of George Floyd:

   A FRESH LOOK AT TRUMP REVERSING OBAMAS' POLICE INVESTIGATIONS POLICY

    In the fall, Minneapolis Police Union President Lt. Bob Kroll spoke at a campaign rally for Donald Trump and praised the current president for breaking with the policies of his predecessor. "The Obama administration and the handcuffing and oppression of police was despicable," Kroll said at a Trump rally. "The first thing President Trump did when he took office was turn that around."

   The Minneapolis officer didn't go into a lot of detail about what it was, exactly, the Democratic White House did to "oppress" police departments, but we can probably guess what the complaint was about. A Vox report noted a few years ago that during Barack Obama's presidency, the Justice Department "played a key role in exposing abuses from local police departments, exposing everything from unjustified shootings to a broader pattern of racism in a police force."

   The report added that under Obama, the Justice Department took on more civil rights investigations of local police departments than his recent predecessors, launching probes into "nearly two dozen police departments, from Baltimore to Ferguson, Missouri to Chicago — uncovering a wide range of abusive, even racist, police practices."

   So what happened? Donald Trump took office, Jeff Sessions became attorney general, and in November 2018, the Republican-led Justice Department went in a dramatically different direction. The New York Times reported at the time that Sessions "drastically limited the ability of federal law enforcement officials to use court-enforced agreements to overhaul local police departments accused of abuses and civil rights violations." The Justice Department had been using court-approved consent decrees to create blueprints for changing law enforcement, but the Alabama Republican decided to make that far more difficult.

    

   https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/fresh-look-trump-reversing-obama-s-police-investigations-policy-n1221056

   Log in to Reply

   1. Elsewhere I read that the Minneapolis police have consistently used the neck restraint for years. Between 2015 and today they have rendered a suspect unconscious with it approximately 8 times per year.

      addendum:
      Here is a link…https://www.salon.com/2020/06/01/minneapolis-cops-used-neck-restraints-237-times-since-2015-rendered-44-people-unconscious-analysis/

      Log in to Reply

   2.  for the link, Duke.

      Log in to Reply