University of Minnesota to limit ties with Minneapolis police after George Floyd's death

[HALL85]

And you would be wrong again.

If you’re gonna try to be critical of the city, you gotta do more than rely on some click bait articles that are misleading and are written by someone with zero aviation knowledge.

It was the Newark Star Ledger...fake news?

 

[HallBall10]

@SHUMatt … "A smarter officer would know never to kneel on a suspect's neck"

This is mind blowing. You honestly think that this person kneeled on his neck for several minutes while crowds of people urged him to stop and while the police called and waited for EMS because he wasn't smart enough to realize that if cut off someone's air supply they can't breathe? That is bat shit crazy enough, but then you also trace that back to affirmative action?

 

[shu09]

it's not code for take less qualified people. It's code for leveling the playing field. It's code for rich old white guys appears to only be hiring white men, maybe sometimes less qualified white men then white women, or people of color, etc.

That's not how the real world works.

 

[HallBall10]

That's not how the real world works.

I can understand it working how you are suggesting in some circumstances.
Can you understand that in the real world less qualified white men have been hired over another more qualified candidate bc of their gender or race all the damn time?

 

[HallBall10]

That's not how the real world works.

I admire you judging others soley by their merits but not everyone is like you.

 

[shu09]

I can understand it working how you are suggesting in some circumstances.
Can you understand that in the real world less qualified white men have been hired over another more qualified candidate bc of their gender or race all the damn time?

That hasn't been my experience.

 

[HALL85]

I can understand it working how you are suggesting in some circumstances.
Can you understand that in the real world less qualified white men have been hired over another more qualified candidate bc of their gender or race all the damn time?

That's a broad brush. There are some executives that hire by what they are comfortable with...does the same apply for a female executive that has all female reports? A minority executive that has the same? There are other managers that feel diversity of background and thought make for better decisions. I have found most managers that hire less qualified staff for color or gender reasons, pretty much stay as a low level manager because they don't get very good results with a crappy team.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

That's a broad brush. There are some executives that hire by what they are comfortable with...does the same apply for a female executive that has all female reports? A minority executive that has the same? There are other managers that feel diversity of background and thought make for better decisions. I have found most managers that hire less qualified staff for color or gender reasons, pretty much stay as a low level manager because they don't get very good results with a crappy team.

Let me share a couple of story times, this is real world corporate america...at my first real job there was big influence by a former football player from a large state university in our area turned cable network executive. The son of a prominent african american female coach at that school was brought on to a position that he absolutely had no qualifcations or prerequisites for. He turned out to be a lazy bum with no motivation who had a catered life through his mother's career and didnt last 90 days, he chose to leave.
More recently, another workplace experience where sons of a prominent longtime caucasian NY newspaper writer/columnist got great opportunities through no qualifications or strive of their own when more accomplished options were readily available. They felt they should be handled with white gloves and handed ever next chance because of who their daddy was. More here, this place had more of a male workforce to female workforce ratio. However the female workforce that was hired, who claimed they wanted fair shakes and to be treated the same just as the guys...didnt want to be treated the same when it came to work life balance, shifts, the need for working nights and weekends not all the time but balanced evenly. Then felt that they could compromise how effective they were at their jobs because they were females.

Sadly nepotism, cronyism and overcorrective hiring is far too commonplace in our society today and there are countless innocent victims that dont get these chances because of it. There is very little reward or hire process determination that happens due to merit and/or best qualified.

 

[SHUMatt]

@SHUMatt … "A smarter officer would know never to kneel on a suspect's neck"

This is mind blowing. You honestly think that this person kneeled on his neck for several minutes while crowds of people urged him to stop and while the police called and waited for EMS because he wasn't smart enough to realize that if cut off someone's air supply they can't breathe? That is bat shit crazy enough, but then you also trace that back to affirmative action?

So you think it was smart to kneel on his neck? Ok, got it.
I didn’t trace it back to Affirmative Action. I showed how lowering standards leads to lower standard of officers. Did you know that officers with college degrees have significantly lower incidents of use of force? How about that officers with college degrees have far less internal complaints against them? Officers that are physically fit use far fewer sick days and are injured way less than officers that are not fit. I doubt you knew any of this because apparently being a smart ass works much better for you. Enjoy your weekend.

 

[Halldan1]

 

[HALL85]

Let me share a couple of story times, this is real world corporate america...at my first real job there was big influence by a former football player from a large state university in our area turned cable network executive. The son of a prominent african american female coach at that school was brought on to a position that he absolutely had no qualifcations or prerequisites for. He turned out to be a lazy bum with no motivation who had a catered life through his mother's career and didnt last 90 days, he chose to leave.
More recently, another workplace experience where sons of a prominent longtime caucasian NY newspaper writer/columnist got great opportunities through no qualifications or strive of their own when more accomplished options were readily available. They felt they should be handled with white gloves and handed ever next chance because of who their daddy was. More here, this place had more of a male workforce to female workforce ratio. However the female workforce that was hired, who claimed they wanted fair shakes and to be treated the same just as the guys...didnt want to be treated the same when it came to work life balance, shifts, the need for working nights and weekends not all the time but balanced evenly. Then felt that they could compromise how effective they were at their jobs because they were females.

Sadly nepotism, cronyism and overcorrective hiring is far too commonplace in our society today and there are countless innocent victims that dont get these chances because of it. There is very little reward or hire process determination that happens due to merit and/or best qualified.

I’ve seen that spectrum of examples as well. Companies have all sorts of hiring cultures. Early in my career I worked for a large company where it was rare to get a promotion to a Director or above position without having an Ivy League degree. Another hired predominantly ex-military and virtually all management positions had that on their resume.

I’ve always believed that you surround yourself with the best, most-qualified candidates that would be able to do your job if pressed. And the worst thing you can do as a manager is set someone up for failure by promoting someone who is not qualified. Companies don’t all operate in a vacuum...you have to perform or lose to competition. I get why people like to work with people like themselves, but that’s not a good formula for success or career progression.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

This is going to get worse. Way worse from all sides.

No it won't. It'll die down as always b/c we've largely become a complacent society. Direct action by the masses doesn't last long in this country. How many times since this criminal pig took office in DC have there been repeated horrible actions & decisions that, if we were engaged like the working class in places like France are, have basically demanded we march on DC & surround the White House until that disgusting punk is perpwalked the hell out of there? Instead we got some virtue signalling nonsense in the Women's Walk right after he took office & barely anything since.

Even if he wins a 2nd term but there are discrepancies that piss us off, most people are too lazy to do anything about it. And the paid-to-lose Dem leadership will be elated if Trump wins frankly, b/c they are a protected class that aren't affected by any of the foul thing the Republicans do when they're in power. The Dem leadership/donor class/consultant class gravy train will keep rolling, so don't expect any real fanning the flans of revolt from empty suits like Pelosi or Schumer & his nose glasses.

Only thing you can bank on re: sustained violence will be from the Trump base if he loses but it's close. He will DEF. fan the flames of the MAGA hogs, like he's already doing now. Biden needs to win decisively for Trump to make a clean exit. Because he's gonna do everything he can to stay in office, as he knows prosecution for a number of issues awaits him once he's out.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

Thats a horrible example to use.

The USA was drawing down their OH-58A fleet and the city got both helos for free. While the media makes the city seem incompetent with the cost to maintain the aircraft, the actual cost per flight hour wasn’t anything outrageous.

hilarious to me that this is your takeaway from this whole issue of police militarization. Missing the point.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

The militarization of the police. Just go to a St. Patrick's Day parade and wait for the sheriffs department to show off the cool tanks and humvees they just got from the US Military-Industrial Complex.

You never see cops on foot patrols anymore. They rarely know people in the neighborhood or the children. Cops are really not used to protect and serve anymore they are used to arrest and ticket the population and generate money for the towns/cities they work for.

Nevermind the "everyone is a threat" / "us vs them" training that rookie cops are given. Of course this training leads most cops to view everyone as a threat to them. Making most cops 1) not a friendly face to those in the community they work or 2) a threat to the citizens of the community.

Also in many urban areas, the police were not born in the areas and do not live in those places. This leads to a different mindset of those cops all together. They go to work as almost an occupying force.

I've seen cops walking into my local coffee shop in white-bred-suburbia-US with bullet proof vests fastened and hand on gun. Like WTF.

Very interesting article from the DOJ supporting most of what I'm saying above (Militarization, us vs them, lack of community policing).

https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatc...ion_of_our_police_doom_community_policing.asp

This & your next post on this topic are probably the best ones in this thread. I was too lazy to go into this detail. Related: walking around Penn Station, Grand Central, 33rd St PATH et al & seeing actual members of the military standing there in full camo w/an AK twists my stomach every time. Disgusting. And don't get me started on the TSA "security theater" at our airports & the billions we waste on that boondoggle every year.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

View embedded media

BS like this is why I'm no fan of Obama. Wow, a strongly worded letter! How courageous! Dude come on...GET IN THE FIGHT! DO SOMETHING...ANYTHING! I get why he doesn't: he's just not wired that way. And his populist leanings when he ran in '08 & then again in '12 were just fluff & lies to get re-elected. But look at what is happening to your people, look at what Trump is doing to anything you accomplished (even if they were middling half measures imo), look what he says about you & all your political allies. Obama still has a bully pulpit even 4 years later. He's insanely popular, not with progressives, but basically everyone else who isn't MAGA. Use that pulpit! Screw the decorum after leaving office...it's a new day dude. Trump & the Republicans are attempting to burning it all down every day. The days of John McCain & Bob Dole are sadly over. Obama & every Dem in leadership should be out there leading protests, getting on TV, Youtube, social media and anywhere else rallying the troops. Engage with your base. Engage with the people. Take notes from the young & hungry in your party like AOC. But we get some tweets & a nice letter every now and again. Useless, and feckless.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

Not to argue, but it’s strange this is happening in Minnesota. That aren’t many places more liberal than that state. It’s not a state in the Deep South, or Southwest, or Texas. It’s Minnesota.

Earlier I rhetorically asked to show me any "liberal" cops. Posts like this one...

A big part of the problem is that hiring standards have been lowered to make the departments more diverse. What actually happens is less qualified white males that would normally be skipped over get the job.

And the rest against affirmative action proved my point right here on the board. Made it easy for me.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

He didn't say killed. He said shot, you can shoot someone in the leg, shoot someone with paintballs, etc, but that's beside the point. The city is being torched, it's nobodies right to burn and loot. What the punishment should be is not my call but are people supposed to stand by while the city is burned and private property looted? How long are supposed to stand by and watch some lowlife destroy their livelihood? If someone tried to come on my property to loot and burn they would face the consequences.

Imagine being so deluded that you would defend Trump on that statement. You're not a dumb guy at all, but you are a fake tough guy, bloodthirsty & racist, so in actuality you know exactly what Trump meant...you love the idea of it...and you came up with some laughably cynical, contorting-yourself-into-a-pretzel logic post to defend him. Gross.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

It amazes me how a rogue cop who did a terrible thing enables people to destroy and act like animals.

Guys like this froth at the mouth for the opportunity to call the poor & marginalized "animals" & "thugs". Anyone who couldn't wait to deflect away from the real issue, that cops murder black people all the time in this country, & shift to condemning protesters & looters shows their true colors the second they do it.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

What was your opinion on Kaepernick's (or the NBA players) peaceful protests in regards to police murdering unarmed black men during the National Anthem?

Many people on this board were absolutely brutal to Kaepernick calling him entitled and spoiled and saying that athletes should just shut up and play sports. Hope you weren't one of them.

He absolutely was one of them. Look at ANY of his posts re: current events & politics. And I wish he'd stop liking my posts.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

I'd love for you to read what you just wrote to our basketball team. If you have the courage to type it, send that weak bs to MP.

This is really the takeaway for me every time politics, race etc comes up here and the right wingers express their lovely views. All the guys on the team they praise, diligently study & root for....none of them would give you the time of the day if they knew how you felt about their people & other marginalized groups.

 

[anon_ezos2e9wn1ob0]

He absolutely was one of them. Look at ANY of his posts re: current events & politics. And I wish he'd stop liking my posts.

Lol Bobbie posting drunk from his parents basement in Bayonne again. Just stfu, you're a POS, everyone on here knows it. I probably did like one of your posts, if you make a good point I will like it. You love to act like your views are so popular, you have over 11,000 posts and barely 3,000 likes, poor little Bobbie is less popular here than he was in school. I've got more likes than posts, over 4,000, go have another bender and let the adults hold conversations, you can go loot with your loser buddies.

 

[anon_ezos2e9wn1ob0]

This is really the takeaway for me every time politics, race etc comes up here and the right wingers express their lovely views. All the guys on the team they praise, diligently study & root for....none of them would give you the time of the day if they knew how you felt about their people & other marginalized groups.

So Bobbie is a jock sniffer, got it. Nobody has said anything derogatory about marginalized people. Everyone has been in agreement that the Minn PD officer should be tried for what occurred. People don't think what happened makes looting and rioting a city okay to do. Does your simpleton brain process that jock sniffer?

 

[deheremike]

So much hatred on the Ship. Cant we all just get along?

The division of America is worsening.

Shame we keep voting for people on the extreme of both sides of the ticket.

We all need a moderate.

Sidenote Joe Biden with a working mind would be decent. God only knows what is making the Democrats trot out a guy with obvious dementia.

We have to choose between the Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich once again.

 

[HALL85]

So much hatred on the Ship. Cant we all just get along?

The division of America is worsening.

Shame we keep voting for people on the extreme of both sides of the ticket.

We all need a moderate.

Sidenote Joe Biden with a working mind would be decent. God only knows what is making the Democrats trot out a guy with obvious dementia.

We have to choose between the Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich once again.

I guess the real question is, do you really have to choose between the two? Doesn’t that just keep rewarding the same incompetence?

i’m just a dinosaur, but it amazes me in this day and age with technology and social media that global movements can happen with warp speed and riots can be mobilized in multiple cities in hours, that a reasonable third-party candidate can’t emerge and get a lot of traction.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

I guess the real question is, do you really have to choose between the two? Doesn’t that just keep rewarding the same incompetence?

i’m just a dinosaur, but it amazes me in this day and age with technology and social media that global movements can happen with warp speed and riots can be mobilized in multiple cities in hours, that a reasonable third-party candidate can’t emerge and get a lot of traction.

Yes because of special interests and the format of our country only a 2 party system exists that counts for something. Any other candidate from a 3rd party wont get exposure or be mainstream enough.

 

[HALL85]

Yes because of special interests and the format of our country only a 2 party system exists that counts for something. Any other candidate from a 3rd party wont get exposure or be mainstream enough.

Sure, they are trying to protect their interests. But with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., there are ways to bypass the main stream media. Didn’t say it would be easy, but I don’t get the defeatist attitude. But maybe that’s just me. Howard Schultz would look like a pretty good choice right now… LOL

 

[deheremike]

Mark Cuban would be Spectacular! A real businessman.

Sure, they are trying to protect their interests. But with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc., there are ways to bypass the main stream media. Didn’t say it would be easy, but I don’t get the defeatist attitude. But maybe that’s just me. Howard Schultz would look like a pretty good choice right now… LOL

 

[shu09]

So much hatred on the Ship. Cant we all just get along?

The division of America is worsening.

Shame we keep voting for people on the extreme of both sides of the ticket.

We all need a moderate.

Sidenote Joe Biden with a working mind would be decent. God only knows what is making the Democrats trot out a guy with obvious dementia.

We have to choose between the Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich once again.

America definitely needs a middle of the road candidate, but it also needs the media to stop encouraging and giving a platform to the extreme leftists and the far right.

 

[HALL85]

America definitely needs a middle of the road candidate, but it also needs the media to stop encouraging and giving a platform to the extreme leftists and the far right.

Unfortunately that’s not gonna happen. The MSM makes their money off of pitting one side against the other. They would attack a moderate candidate as hurting their side and helping the other. Sad that real journalism has left the building.

 

[shu09]

Unfortunately that’s not gonna happen. The MSM makes their money off of pitting one side against the other. They would attack a moderate candidate as hurting their side and helping the other. Sad that real journalism has left the building.

Yup, I know. Just plain sad.

 

[SHUMatt]

Last night in NYC this police lieutenant got hit in the face with a brick by protestors. He had nothing to do with the murder in Minn. How in the world is this right?

 

[batts]

Regarding Colin Kaepernick, I have absolutely no respect for that cretin. That pampered punk disrespects the very flag that thousands of our soldiers died for at Normandy, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, etc.

 

[NYShoreGuy]

Regarding Colin Kaepernick, I have absolutely no respect for that cretin. That pampered punk disrespects the very flag that thousands of our soldiers died for at Normandy, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, etc.

Colin is no better or worse for the act that he did than what john carlos and tommie smith did in 1968 mexico city...i would rather see an act like that than flag burning

 

[NYShoreGuy]

Ironic this week History Channel had a 3 part special on Ulysses S. Grant. Here we are 155 years since end of the civil war and reconstruction and I am not sure we are so much advanced as a people, society and nation since then.

 

[batts]

Colin is no better or worse for the act that he did than what john carlos and tommie smith did in 1968 mexico city...i would rather see an act like that than flag burning

I wasn’t too happy with JC and TS either. However, I think the Circumstances behind their protest are much different then the reasons why Kaepernick dishonors the American flag. Racial discrimination was much more pronounced in the turbulent 60s. Since that era, American society has progressed through education and affirmative legislation. We have had a black president and numerous members of Congress. Kaepernick is primarily protesting the actions of some rogue bad cops, which have been condemned by the overwhelming majority of Americans. I’m therefore way more sympathetic toward Carlos and Smith Even though I disagreed with their protest.

 

[HALL85]

I wasn’t too happy with JC and TS either. However, I think the Circumstances behind their protest are much different then the reasons why Kaepernick dishonors the American flag. Racial discrimination was much more pronounced in the turbulent 60s. Since that era, American society has progressed through education and affirmative legislation. We have had a black president and numerous members of Congress. Kaepernick is primarily protesting the actions of some rogue bad cops, which have been condemned by the overwhelming majority of Americans. I’m therefore way more sympathetic toward Carlos and Smith Even though I disagreed with their protest.

Good summary. We have advanced quite a bit as a society for those reasons and others. 30 years ago how many interracial marriages did you see? Now it’s not even something that gets noticed, much less frowned upon. Unfortunately, reporting on extremes drives the price of an ad up.

I like to think the vast majority of the population sees things for what they are and can process facts with a good heart. The vast majority of people agree that Floyd George was murdered; that Ahmaud Aubrey was targeted and gunned down; that Michael Brown died because of his own actions.

 

[shu09]

Ironic this week History Channel had a 3 part special on Ulysses S. Grant. Here we are 155 years since end of the civil war and reconstruction and I am not sure we are so much advanced as a people, society and nation since then.

If you believe that, you're absolutely delusional.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

Lol Bobbie posting drunk from his parents basement in Bayonne again. Just stfu, you're a POS, everyone on here knows it. I probably did like one of your posts, if you make a good point I will like it. You love to act like your views are so popular, you have over 11,000 posts and barely 3,000 likes, poor little Bobbie is less popular here than he was in school. I've got more likes than posts, over 4,000, go have another bender and let the adults hold conversations, you can go loot with your loser buddies.

Awww look whose privileged racist little feathers got ruffled. Hilarious. Hit a little close to home? Way to divert & go on some random rant about likes.

And you know I'm right about the players, just like HallBall10 was. Disgusted that people like you & your little cadre of conservative bigots root for the same athletes as me. Again, just know they & the coaches would never give any of the time of day if they knew how you all really feel.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

The militarization of the police. Just go to a St. Patrick's Day parade and wait for the sheriffs department to show off the cool tanks and humvees they just got from the US Military-Industrial Complex.

You never see cops on foot patrols anymore. They rarely know people in the neighborhood or the children. Cops are really not used to protect and serve anymore they are used to arrest and ticket the population and generate money for the towns/cities they work for.

Nevermind the "everyone is a threat" / "us vs them" training that rookie cops are given. Of course this training leads most cops to view everyone as a threat to them. Making most cops 1) not a friendly face to those in the community they work or 2) a threat to the citizens of the community.

Also in many urban areas, the police were not born in the areas and do not live in those places. This leads to a different mindset of those cops all together. They go to work as almost an occupying force.

I've seen cops walking into my local coffee shop in white-bred-suburbia-US with bullet proof vests fastened and hand on gun. Like WTF.

Very interesting article from the DOJ supporting most of what I'm saying above (Militarization, us vs them, lack of community policing).

https://cops.usdoj.gov/html/dispatc...ion_of_our_police_doom_community_policing.asp

read up a bit more on this topic & came across this. Scary stuff:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphb...ime-for-a-national-conversation/#3408e8c624bb

The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, so far to little notice. It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers. Also reported elsewhere, at the height of the Iraq War the Army was expending less than 6 million rounds a month. Therefore 1.6 billion rounds would be enough to sustain a hot war for 20+ years. In America.

Add to this perplexing outré purchase of ammo, DHS now is showing off its acquisition of heavily armored personnel carriers, repatriated from the Iraqi and Afghani theaters of operation. As observed by “paramilblogger” Ken Jorgustin last September:




[T]he Department of Homeland Security is apparently taking delivery (apparently through the Marine Corps Systems Command, Quantico VA, via the manufacturer – Navistar Defense LLC) of an undetermined number of the recently retrofitted 2,717 ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ MaxxPro MRAP vehicles for service on the streets of the United States.”

These MRAP’s ARE BEING SEEN ON U.S. STREETS all across America by verified observers with photos, videos, and descriptions."

Regardless of the exact number of MRAP’s being delivered to DHS (and evidently some to POLICE via DHS, as has been observed), why would they need such over-the-top vehicles on U.S. streets to withstand IEDs, mine blasts, and 50 caliber hits to bullet-proof glass? In a war zone… yes, definitely. Let’s protect our men and women. On the streets of America… ?"


“They all have gun ports… Gun Ports? In the theater of war, yes. On the streets of America…?

Seriously, why would DHS need such a vehicle on our streets?”

Why indeed? It is utterly inconceivable that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is planning a coup d’etat against President Obama, and the Congress, to install herself as Supreme Ruler of the United States of America. There, however, are real signs that the Department bureaucrats are running amok. About 20 years ago this columnist worked, for two years, in the U.S. Department of Energy’s general counsel’s office in its procurement and finance division. And is wise to the ways. The answer to “why would DHS need such a vehicle?” almost certainly is this: it’s a cool toy and these (reportedly) million dollar toys are being recycled, without much of a impact on the DHS budget. So… why not?

Why, indeed, should the federal government not be deploying armored personnel carriers and stockpiling enough ammo for a 20-year war in the homeland? Because it’s wrong in every way. President Obama has an opportunity, now, to live up to some of his rhetoric by helping the federal government set a noble example in a matter very close to his heart (and that of his Progressive base), one not inimical to the Bill of Rights: gun control. The federal government can (for a nice change) begin practicing what it preaches by controlling itself.

Remember the Sequester? The president is claiming its budget cuts will inconvenience travelers by squeezing essential services provided by the (opulently armed and stylishly uniformed) DHS. Quality ammunition is not cheap. (Of course, news reports that DHS is about to spend $50 million on new uniforms suggests a certain cavalier attitude toward government frugality.)

Spending money this way is beyond absurd well into perverse. According to the AP story a DHS spokesperson justifies this acquisition to “help the government get a low price for a big purchase.” Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center: “The training center and others like it run by the Homeland Security Department use as many as 15 million rounds every year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.”

At 15 million rounds (which, in itself, is pretty extraordinary and sounds more like fun target-shooting-at-taxpayer-expense than a sensible training exercise) … that’s a stockpile that would last DHS over a century. To claim that it’s to “get a low price” for a ridiculously wasteful amount is an argument that could only fool a career civil servant.

Meanwhile, Senator Diane Feinstein, with the support of President Obama, is attempting to ban 100 capacity magazine clips. Doing a little apples-to-oranges comparison, here, 1.6 billion rounds is … 16 million times more objectionable.

Mr. Obama has a long history of disdain toward gun ownership. According to Prof. John Lott, in Debacle, a book he co-authored with iconic conservative strategist Grover Norquist,

“When I was first introduced to Obama (when both worked at the University of Chicago Law School, where Lott was famous for his analysis of firearms possession), he said, ‘Oh, you’re the gun guy.’

I responded: ‘Yes, I guess so.’

’I don’t believe that people should own guns,’ Obama replied.

I then replied that it might be fun to have lunch and talk about that statement some time.

He simply grimaced and turned away. …

Unlike other liberal academics who usually enjoyed discussing opposing ideas, Obama showed disdain.”

Mr. Obama? Where’s the disdain now? Cancelling, or at minimum, drastically scaling back — by 90% or even 99%, the DHS order for ammo, and its receipt and deployment of armored personnel carriers, would be a “fourfer.”

• The federal government would set an example of restraint in the matter of weaponry.
• It would reduce the deficit without squeezing essential services.
• It would do both in a way that was palatable to liberals and conservatives, slightly depolarizing America.
• It would somewhat defuse, by the government making itself less armed-to-the-teeth, the anxiety of those who mistrust the benevolence of the federales.

If Obama doesn’t show any leadership on this matter it’s an opportunity for Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to summon Secretary Napolitano over for a little national conversation. Madame Secretary? Buying 1.6 billion rounds of ammo and deploying armored personnel carriers runs contrary, in every way, to what “homeland security” really means. Discuss.

 

[Bobbie Solo]

To indulge the diversion tactic of the right for a second, people getting all upset about about the fires and the looting just don't get it. Or more likely, choose to ignore the bigger picture so they can feel comfortable calling people thugs and animals. There are no "proper channels" or "appropriate venues" left for addressing something like this. At least nothing that actually works, nothing that results in a massive, permanent change. The very fact that these cops are still free is the very proof that this system doesn't work. If we had an actual functioning justice system, none of this would be happening. But you can't spend decades treating a whole community like pure shit & expect there to be no expression of outrage. One way or another, the hurt & anger has to go somewhere, and when all the "appropriate" ways of pursuing justice are blocked off, rigged & broken, this becomes the only thing left to do for some.