The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 44: What if it wasn't Tyreek Hill? Republicans would have loved to seen him killed.

Miami-Dade Police Officer tries to make Dolphins
WR Tryeek Hill inactive to win his Fan Duel Parlay

No doubt on the Leon Muck hellsite of X-Twitter the Just Comply Guys are back at it telling black people they deserve mistreatment up to and including extrajudicial murder at the hands of the Police because no black person, no matter how rich or famous has any rights, the Police or Justice System is bound to recognize.  To Republicans every black person is a priori guilty of something and therefore they deserve whatever happens to them. 

On NFL Opening Sunday, Tyreek Hill was stopped for speeding as he went to play in the Dolphins home opener.  When Hill told the Officer just "Give me my ticket, bro, so I can go, I'm gonna be late. Do what you gotta do," this did not sit well with the Miami-Dade Biker Cops, who within one minute of conducting the traffic stop, escalated the situation out of control, yanked Hill out of the car onto the pavement, where they put a knee on his back.  Hill was paraded to the curb, thrown to the ground when he didn't sit fast enough, handcuffed, and was subject to some really unprofessional wise ass comments about his knee surgery,

"What a coincidence.  Did you have surgery on your ears when we told you to put the window down?"

Miami Dolphins superstar wideout Tyreek Hill was treated the way Republicans and white people want to treat every Blackman in America; with maximum force and no regard of rights, liberties, or the vaunted due process they pay lip service too.

His real crime?  The original sin of Unforgivable Blackness.  Of course, the hispanic officers were not happy that they were being called out for participating in the Systematic Racist American Justice system, 

"I'm just being a Black man, that's it," Hill called out. "I'm just being Black in America."

"We're dark, too, brother," one officer replied. "We're people of color, too. Don't play like that's special."

Brother! 

As you read the encounter so many things point to the Miami-Dade Officers out of control anger at Hill, when he dismissed them with 'just give me the ticket I gotta go' that snapped whatever slender reed of self-control the Officers had, they wanted the window down to visibly search for something anything they could see to arrest him, they wanted the window down so they could smell for the faintest wiff of canabis, they wanted him out of the car to demonstrate their authority.  As other Dolphin players saw this they approached arms raised because black men know how trigger happy Police in America are towards black men.  Even at 10 am on a Sunday morning.  Hill was kept almost half-an-hour until his rich powerful agent Drew Rosenhaus arrived on scene.  Hill never even played the "Do you know who I am?" card.  

Stephen Ross, the billionaire owner of the Dolphins is a fanatical supporter of senile traitor Trump, I'm certain if Hill had been killed by the Officers that day he'd be first in line to receive compensation for the value of his lost property, just like back in the old days.

Recall that under Florida Tyrant Little Boots DeSantis police officers from across the country can come down to Florida, no questions asked, to pick up policing again.  Which is why the Fascist Police Union (in Florida they are euphemistically called South Florida Benevolent Police Association) went on to declare Hill was being uncooperative.

What if it wasn't Tyreek Hill?  Well, everyone knows there'd be another Police "involved" killing of a black man...

Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 40: More Police Training is not the answer especially not "Street Cop Training"

Reform the Police, a refrain as old as Police themselves.  But, we will never get the proper answer until we understand the question?  "More Training" has been the Panacea to combat Police brutality and misconduct but, can the Police as currently conceived, designed, organized, and utilized be retrained?

More than a decade ago I became aware of the grotesque David Grossman and his On Killing / Warrior Cop police training, a course of instruction designed to turn even well-adjusted LEOs into sacred trigger happy panicked shooters and affording psychotic Police Officers the justification they needed to gun down any black man they saw.

Grossman's "Killology" training wasn't a bizarre outlier from a weirdo who never saw combat but, a highly touted and widespread methodology which had been taught to thousands of cops and merely the most visible of the Let's make police into brutal abusers philosophy. 

Sadly, it seems a vast swath of politicians were never aware of this training until it had already wrecked an entire generation of Police Officers in a similar way the Joe Rogan/Andrew Tate/Jordan Peterson toxic masculinity has warped and deluded the young generation of Zoomer boys these days.  The general approach was to simply allocate the money for "More Training" and let the departments pick and choose.

Therefore, in this Post-Ferguson era, we still see toxic training being sold to Officers and the content provided by these so-called trainers containing vulgar, rude, discriminatory, unconstitutional methods, demeaning misogynoy, and toxic masculinity.  

Street Cop, founded in 2012, is a private law enforcement training vendor that conducts business in the State of New Jersey. The founder and CEO of the Company is Dennis Benigno, a former law enforcement officer who worked with a municipal police department in Middlesex County, New Jersey, until 2015. 

Benigno claims to lead “one of the largest, if not the largest, police training providers in the United States,” impacting approximately 25,000 to 30,000 law enforcement officers nationally on an annual basis. In New Jersey alone, the Company conducts 40 to 45 courses annually, training in “excess of 2000 state and local law enforcement officers.” Included in the New Jersey course offerings is a case law class “tailored specifically to New Jersey,” which Benigno himself instructs.

Among other things, OSC found:

• Instructors at the Conference promoted the use of unconstitutional policing tactics for motor vehicle stops;
• Some instructors glorified violence and an excessively militaristic or “warrior” approach to policing. Other presenters spoke disparagingly of the internal affairs process; promoted an “us vs. them” approach; and espoused views and tactics that would undermine almost a decade of police reform efforts in New Jersey, including those aimed at de-escalating civilian-police encounters, building trust with vulnerable populations, and increasing officers’ ability to understand, appreciate, and interact with New Jersey’s diverse population; and
• The Conference included over 100 discriminatory and harassing remarks by speakers and instructors, with repeated references to speakers’ genitalia, lewd gestures, and demeaning quips about women and minorities.

The New Jersey Office of State Comptroller has a detailed report of the vile bullshit and borderline criminal misconduct taught at a 6 day seminar in Atlantic City in October 2021.  And what did The Founder of Street Cop, Dennis Benigno with his synthol oil muscles, and his instructors teach?  Why the same tired Reactionary Crap of Warrior Cop hyper-vigilance.  The repetition of the US and Them, Kill or Be Killed, Treat Everyone Like a Dirtbag Criminal and you might just go home alive.

I've been to a lot of training over the years and immediately steer clear of the hard-chargers who come in festooned in street tactical 5.11 clothing, wearing their duty/off-duty pistol in their low leg holster... 

What we always find with this type of training or an institution like Street Cop; is the classic reductive stereo-types which have been repeated since Joseph Wambaugh and Clint Eastwood invented them 60 years ago.  Righteous god fearing white christian police beset by the savage hordes of blacks, hispanics, queers, and others while namby-pamby bleeding heart liberals tie the Police hands instead of letting them do the righteous work.  Of course, the foundation stretches back even further to the lies Wyatt Earp and Tom Mix sold Hollywood of the lone lawman fighting for Law&Order over a 100 years ago.

Even today, right now, the Republican Party and rightwing propagandists continue to propagate this bullshit, the stereotype that if only "Our" Police were unshackled, if only the crime-coddling Democrats got out of the way, if only the media didn't broadcast Chauvin's extrajudicial killing of George Floyd crime wouldn't be out of control.

Never forget the people that say this are the ideological descendants of those who gave Nixon and Regan the free reign to use draconian methods in the "War on Drugs".  And were absolutely fine when the fucking terror was rained down upon poor and minority communities.  Back then Police didn't raid and bust ever rich white frat house at Dartmouth now did they?  But, once the War on Drugs began to impact little "Maddie & Connor", well then white society demanded leniency and counseling and treatment instead of incarceration and a life-long sentence which fucked millions by giving them a criminal record.

Do you know why the Republicans in Congress like Major Traitor Greene and that Coward Josh Hawley are still so mad at the Capitol Police?  Because Republicans expected the Police to aid them, and their rightwing paramilitary terrorists on January 6th in overthrowing the Government.

Remember the issue isn't just Reforming the Police or finding/fixing/removing the few bad apples it's also dealing with the bad faith efforts of conservatives to undermine solutions while demonizing the efforts in order to obtain political power.  Recall how Republicans and their compliant corporate media stenographers told the American populace that #DefundthePolice was the official policy of Joe Biden and every Democrat office-holder.  Then couple that with the Republican predilection of axiomatically defending every extrajudicial killing of a minority in America and you have the right ingredients for the Modern Reactionary Police.  A Police Force that will readily stomp on the faces of anyone who hinders the White Power Christian Fascist Nation the Republicans seek to turn the United States into...

Broken Windows is Not Policing

...it's harassment.

Broken Windows policing is the concept that by citing, arresting, and taking enforcement action on small crimes, Police Officer presence deters bigger crimes.

The term itself comes from the idea that when you see one broken window in a, usually dilapidated, building "criminals" feel empowered to break them all.

Charles Murray emerged from his crypt to opine in the Washington Post that Crime is Up because Broken Windows as a policing strategy was stopped, abandoned, and discredited.

Charles Murray gained his reputation by authoring the infamous Bell Curve, in 1994, which postulated the groundbreaking theory that Blacks are genetically inferior to superior smart Whites (and Asians but don't tell them because Asians are the model minority).

We get the general idea of where Murray is going with his attached headline picture accompanying the story, a homeless encampment in LA with some red flag which advertises the "Devil's Lettuce".  

How grotesque.  How so very on brand for this Reaganite Bigot. (Incidentally I see Reagan Era Bigots are getting a last hurrah, as William B. Allen co-authored the Florida Slavery is Great curriculum).

Murray then references the utter falsehood about Defund the Police in the wake of George Floyd's extrajudicial killing.  Murray has to amend his invocation of Floyd, BLM, and the Republicans lies about Defund by stating crime had supposedly already been going up for a decade before, thus invalidating bringing it up until you realize the reason Charles Murray brings up Floyd, BLM, and Defund the Police is to reiterate Republican agitprop and repetition, repetition, repetition. 

What this leads to is the policy of Police misconduct and harassment in Ferguson, Missouri;

Our investigation has shown that distrust of the Ferguson Police Department is longstanding and largely attributable to Ferguson’s approach to law enforcement. This approach results in patterns of unnecessarily aggressive and at times unlawful policing; reinforces the harm of discriminatory stereotypes; discourages a culture of accountability; and neglects community engagement. In recent years, FPD has moved away from the modest community policing efforts it previously had implemented, reducing opportunities for positive police-community interactions, and losing the little familiarity it had with some African- American neighborhoods. City officials have frequently asserted that the harsh and disparate results of Ferguson’s law enforcement system do not indicate problems with police or court practices, but instead reflect a pervasive lack of “personal responsibility” among “certain segments” of the community.

But this the outcome that Charles Murray wants and sees as a positive good.  Like all bigots, Murray is only interested in this being applied to Big Cities, which are overwhelmingly represented by minorities.  What Murray and his ilk want are Police Forces to be an occupying army, in which white Police Officers who live in the suburbs or certain urban conclaves ride into the Urban Jungle and enact Justice.

What this doesn't do is stop Domestic Violence.  What this doesn't do is stop Drunk Driving or distracted drivers who will Instagramming LOL run over and kill world-class bicyclists in their urban assault SUVs. What this doesn't do is stop kingpins who hire juvenile offenders to steal catalytic convertors in areas where no Broken Windows exist.  What this doesn't do is stop areas with high crime rates per capita like say when the Democratic candidate for Governor in Oklahoma, correctly points out their violent crime rate was higher than New York City.

But, none of this matters to Charles Murray, whose job as a rightwing propagandist is to craft a narrative to sell to Americans.  And for 50 years Murray has made sure to tell white people "Crime", like gun violence, is a thing that only happens in DemocRAT run cities.

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 36: Kim Foxx not gonna Run so instead Let's Go Brandon

Kim Foxx announced she will not seek reelection in 2024 after serving two terms as Cook County state's attorney.

“At the conclusion of my term, November of 2024, I will be stepping down as State’s Attorney. I will not be on next year’s ballot, by my choice,” Foxx told the room. “I became State’s Attorney to deliver safety, justice and equity. I feel that I have made my mark, so I’m ready to let new leadership step forward,” Foxx said in a written statement following today’s speech. “Over the next year and half, my office will continue to work diligently for the people of Cook County and uphold the values of a fair and just legal system.” 

If there was one thing that pissed Police off in Chicago and Cook County it was Kim Foxx.  Because Kim Foxx is guilty;  Guilty of the crime of being a black person of America.  This is the most unforgivable offense in the United States; past, present, and future.  As State's Attorney Kim Foxx instituted reforms to cash bail, expunged cannabis arrests (which of course, overwhelmingly targeted minorities), and helped overturn numerous wrongful convictions, resulting from Police misconduct.

Now, if you ask Police why they hate her the responses will no doubt include the ridiculous Jussie Smolett incident and Foxx's unforced error in intervening in the investigation.  But, overall the claim will be that Foxx did not allow the Police (and Cook County ASA's) to do their job; which is arresting and incarcerating minorities.  Standard refrains from Officers when asked about Chicago crime revolved around, 'What do you expect? It's Cook County!' and 'Kim Foxx won't do anything about this or that crime' and it's 'Kim Foxx is stopping us from charging criminals'.  Much of this was a thin veneer to cover for slipshod police work.  But, always remember Police don't arrest innocent people...

Now, remember what we are running into is not the Thin Blue Line but, the wall of Whiteness.  White people are inculcated from an early age to love Police but, also fear them.  This is most often seen when a white parents chastise their very young child's behavior by saying, 'Now!  Little Aiden don't do that or the Policeman will come take you away!'

The reason you do this is so white people learn to understand as long as they toe-the-line and support police they will be protected good standing members of the Congregation.  But, those congregants who transgress earn the sobriquet "Mopes".

As Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve noted in her book, Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America's Largest Criminal Court,

In the vernacular of court culture, defendants are identified by vulgarities: "scum," "piece of shit," "bad guys" - even "banana suits" (which refers to the jail jumper that defendants in custody must wear in court).  One term predominates among these epithets.  That term is "mopes," used mostly to refer to defendants but sometimes used to describe professionals as well.  The meaning inscribed in this term is central to the moral rubric applied to defendants by courtroom professionals.

Work ethic, competency, and motivation are central elements of court culture.  Efficiency and speed of disposition provide daily evidence of the court professional's work ethic.  Not surprisingly, plea bargains rather than trials define this proverbial machine of efficient justice, and judges and prosecutors pride themselves on efficiency. 

"Mope" is shorthand for a person who violates these values.  Professionals find it difficult to regard a defendant as anything but a mope.  

As we see with the Sinister Six Injustices in the Supremacist Court, the Law, Officials, and Courts in America has morphed into a quasi-religion, the new Priesthood, and Church of America.  For decades now, we've been treated to numerous TV shows which demonstrate the sublime perfection of the Mystic Legal Religion, as Cops always get there, Judges are humble, impartial arbiters of immutable Holy Script, and the Prosecutors follow the god-given tenets of law to achieve absolute truth.  While defendants attempt to wiggle free.  In many courtrooms across the land certain people are rushed through the system and incarcerated whilst others enjoy the long, slow process, multiple appeals, delays, motions, and extended mysteries of the courtroom.   

The role of Police is to be the first line enforcing this Mystical Legal Religion (which has all the hallmarks of White Supremacy); now every Officer I know would (and has) immediately balked and become defensive or dismissive of this when I point it out for a variety of personal reasons or unexamined assumptions but, this is often because they can not or will not see the systematic Institutional Racism which undergirds American society.

Because Police Officers are terrible lawyers and should not be trusted when it comes to their opinion on the charging of crimes.  So Cook County makes Officers call Assistant State's Attorney's for background and approval when charging felonies.  But, I've never met an Officer who didn't think every single arrest he made was a lock solid certainty and the defendant 100% guilty.  Now, I never made an arrest when I did not believe I had probable cause, but I've never gotten mad at not "winning" in the Courtroom.

In this system, blacks and Hispanics are always a priori considered "mopes" until proved otherwise and white people are presumed to have been raised in the spirit of holy Justice to uphold the white supremacist ideals that the Court enforces.  But, by interfering in the fast disposition of defendants, Kim Foxx became Queen Mope to Officers working in Chicago and Cook County, who took to routinely blaming Foxx for all the woes and all crime in the City and Cook County.  Of course, this is total nonsense.

Incidentally, this is why every Republican, every rightwing tv station and every internet propagandist is mad about the revelations of extreme corruption, cartoonish criminality, and highly unethical behavior of the Ettins of the Supreme Court; Clarence and Ginni, John Roberts and his wife Jane Sullivan, Sammy di puzzi Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Boofer O'Kavanugh, and Amy Coathanger Barrett.  Since they are the High Mullahs of America their whims are infallible and their dictates (much like those of Kacsmaryk or the podunk goober Judges in down state Illinois) are received from on-high and are actually the transmittals of the Idealized Pure Law and thus unimpeachable.  Also, conservatives will be apoplectic if Dick Durbin gets off his ass and abolishes the outmoded and fascist friendly blue-slip Senate rules because conservatives have stolen the Judiciary fair and square!

However, now that Kim Foxx is gone, rightwingers and asshole Reactionary Cops have lost their satan whom they could blame for any of their lazy fuck-ups in building a case, sloppy detective work, and for all crime everywhere in Cook County.  But, thankfully white supremacy in Chicago is saved because in April Brandon Johnson won the Chicago Mayoral Election against Paul Vallas and before the final vote was even tabulated rightwingers had a downtown incident which was 100% Brandon Johnson's fault and which 100% showed what the rightwing wurlitzer will do going forward. 

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 26: Axon! Axoff! Axon-Axoff! The Bribery!

Police brutality and misconduct is fast becoming a big money maker.  No, I'm not referencing the payouts to the families of those victimized and killed by Police but, by Companies moving in to capitalize on the problem.

Axon Body Cameras are the industry standard.  Motorola has a strong hold on second place but, between them the two companies dominate the market across the United States.  Axon was originally named TASER, which I'm sure you know were the makers of the "Less-than-Lethal" electrical weapons.  Later iterations of Taser weapons added a "TaserCam" but, as body cameras gained a larger and larger segment of the company they renamed and rebranded.

Tasers, are of course controversial, and somewhat ineffective as in chaotic situations its' difficult (not impossible) to get a good shot which deploys both prongs properly and disables the suspect.  Taser (Axon) initially stood by their claims of not causing deaths and offered up a $1,000,000 defense for any Police Department sued after a death attributed to the Taser but, dropped this protection after Courts began to award wrongful death suits to victims' families.

Well, as Police misconduct continues to be documented by citizens with cell phone cameras and with the passage of the Illinois Safe-T Act in 2021, Axon wasted no time in doing what big businesses have always done to capture a market; Purchase all your major competitors and bribe government officials.

The Chicago Tribune reported on Monday that state Sen. Elgie Sims, a Chicago Democrat, was approached in the spring by federal authorities looking into whether Axon Enterprise Inc. either directly or through other lobbying entities improperly tried to influence Sims.

So... Governor J. B. Pritzker called on the Federal Law Enforcement to conduct the investigation which is good.  Axon has denied any wrongdoing.  Sims apparently worked as a lobbyist or provided legal aid to Axon.  This of course is part of the Government/Big Business hand-in-hand cooperation which often leads to corrupt dealings known as "Regulatory Capture", that is when those charged with overseeing certain government functions are coopted and act as clients or proponents of the business.  For instance, the Axon employee who briefed my department on use and functions of the body cameras was a former police officer who worked in his department's video evidence storage department and then was hired immediately upon his retirement by Axon.

The Republican nominee for Illinois Governor Darren Bailey, an alleged pig fucker, has garnered the FOP endorsement (on August 8th = "88", which is an obvious head nod to Bailey's rabid fascist base) and pledged to repeal the 2021 criminal justice reform law.  Dirty John Catanzara, disgraced former Chicago Police Officer and Jan6th Insurrection supporter, also supports alleged pig fucker Darren Bailey.  But, Bailey hasn't condemned Axon because he knows in his black pig heart the power and influence they wield even if Darren Bailey wishes to unleash Police Forces across Illinois to continue the old ways of brutality and misconduct.

The Assassination of 21 Uvalde residents by the Coward Texas Police Officers (Defund the Police)

"If they are going to start this, they cannot expect us to sit silently while they try to strip our Second Amendment rights," In response to the latest Gun Massacre in America, Florida Republican Representative Randy Fine justifies threatening to assassinate President Biden as Republicans continue to descend into Pure Fascism.

The Copaganda Narrative of Uvalde has fallen apart.  The timeline of events does not correspond at all with the bullshit narrative Police, Authorities, and Texas Republicans first presented.  This whole thing is fucking unbelievable.  The shooter was outside firing rounds for 12 minutes prior to entering the school.  The Officers saw him enter and followed but were repulsed by superior firepower.  At this point once you have eyes in the shooter or once you know his location from the gunfire you are receiving you must maintain contact to keep his location fixed.  Yes, I'm sorry Boys you're going to get shot at with rifle rounds.  But!  Don't fret!  I hear from gun nuts on-line all the time that an AR-15 is just a 22!  A pea-shooter!  

Instead the Officers retreated, lost containment and waited an hour for the more heavily armed QRF to respond.  A fucking hour! 

The entire incident appears to be a mixture of sheer incompetence and pure cowardice.  The stories coming out of dithering, of handcuffing parents, of other Texas Deputies going into the school and retrieving their children, of incompetent attempts to reach students hiding and exposing them to the school shooter.

David Simon said in the film The House I Live In, that the War on Drugs and the Police State associated with it, could claim to be worth it if, we also had safety and security but, we don't.  So, instead we get the dehumanization of America from the War on Drugs in addition to the tyrannical authoritarianism of a fascist internal police.

The same is true with the bloated Police budgets and obsequious fealty Police Departments demand.  It might be worth it, to bow and scrape, and pay police exorbitant overtime pay for safety and security but, instead Police Budgets take away from other more vital services which can better address the issues facing society and because of the Republican policy of flooding the Nation with 400,000,000 easily obtainable firearms we have no safety and no security.

And I'm not even talking about the payouts for egregious violations of law and misconduct just the amount of money dedicated to keep the precious feeling of The Cowardly Thin Blue Line from being hurt when Police are criticized for gross misconnection, law breaking, and violations of rights.

40% of Uvalde's city budget goes to the Police Department.  They have a SWAT equivalent team.  This would be a great time to talk about Defunding the Police, but right now rightwing media would love nothing more than to change the subject to violence in Democrat Run cities and disgusting Republican slobs like Sarah Suckabee Sanders could get on Faux News and say Chicago Chicago Chicago!!!

"I think if you look to Chicago, where you had over 4,000 victims of gun-related crimes last year, they have the strictest gun laws in the country. That certainly hasn’t helped there." Suckebee Sanders after the Las Vegas Mass Shooting in 2017

And I haven't even mentioned the concerted conservative on-line disinformation campaign by Candeath Owens and other rightwing influencers. using random pictures of innocent Transgender women "Sam" from Georgia and others to deflect, distract and, delay in order to run out the clock on gun control efforts and stoke the fires of anti-trans bigotry which conservatives will employ for the next mass shooting.

I know Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, John Cornyn are shameless and have no compunction about giving these petulant interviews oozing bad faith and uncaring sarcasm but how can Texans, tough talking, god-fearing, giant belt buckle wearing, self-reliant frontier folk vote for these slimy fucks?  Has the non-stop GOP rhetoric and propaganda worked that fucking well?  That these doughy, wide-waisted, flabby-assed, cowards are the epitome of Texas?  How can you look at Ted Cruz and go Yep! that's who I want as a Senator!

The Truth is Greg Abbott and the Texas Republicans don't care.  They don't fucking care.  They don't fucking care about this latests mass shooting with Kids and Teachers blown to pieces.  Just like they didn't care about the last mass shooting in Texas.  And just like they won't fucking care about the next mass shooting in Texas.  And why should they?  Playing tough guy, helping to flood Texas with guns, and ignoring gun violence has made them rich and powerful.  They get to talk tough and scream at Beto O'Rourke and then laugh at Liberal Tears because of Guns.

The sad truth is I expect the Faux News spun propaganda and righting on-line discourse to turn to those cowardly Cops failed to do their job!  If those Cops had done the easy brave thing, this never would have happened, and our theory of Guns making people safer would still be 100% correct.  Also anyway the Democrats are to blame! 

Additional:

I understand why Republicans like Randy Fine, threaten the President of the United States in service to their masters the NRA (the need the power, influence, and money of the NRA to win elections) but why does Mitt Romney with his bullshit holier-than-thou sanctity of life not break with the Gun Lobby?  He doesn't need their money.  Why doesn't Susan Concerned Collins break and support Gun Control?  She doesn't need the rightwing propaganda machine to win elections.  No, what the lock-step Republicans deference and obedience to the NRA shows is there are NO Moderate Republicans.  The Republican Party is a wholly Fascist Organization which rapidly advancing on the prospect of subjugation and wholesale murder of millions of Americans.

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 19: Buffalo Officers, won't you push an Old Man to the Ground Tonight, Push an Old Man to the Ground Tonight!

Besides butchering the spirit of the original quote by Terry Pratchet it draws a distinct blue line between Justice and the Police and clearly indicates Police don't provide Justice.  Because in the United States, we don't have a Justice System we have a Legal System, and that system is geared to over protect rich and their property and indemnify the Guards of the System. 

In 2020, protests over the extrajudicial killing of George Floyd erupted across the country.  These were peaceful, but they were also an expression of left-wing agitation and the United States does not allow left-wing agitation so Police were called out in force and all manner of egregious violence was meted out on protestors.

Right-wing agitation, on the contrary, is coddled and encouraged in the Nation as witnessed by the two domestic terrorists who planned to kidnap and murder Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer were acquitted and the other two were given mistrials.   

So, when 75 year old Martin Gugino was shoved to the ground by two Buffalo New York Police Officers (dressed in their best Judge Dredd gear and flanked by 50 other similarly festooned Officers) and began bleeding from the ears after suffering a fractured skull, it became another chance for right-wingers across the Nation to invent and concoct outlandish conspiracies of radio jamming to justify the egregious misue of force, which is exactly what fascist Twitter and Traitor-in-Chief Trump did.

Well, as these things go, the two Officers were cleared today of any policy violations by an arbitrator and of course, a Grand Jury last year declined to indict either officer.

The arbitrator Jeffrey Selchick's written opinion is ludicrous of course,

"Upon review, there is no evidence to sustain any claim that Respondents (police officers) had any other viable options other than to move Gugino out of the way of their forward movement."

Gotta push that solitary old man over instead walking around him because he was trying to zap the digital radios of the Riot Police with his special 5G vaccines!  The attorney for Gugino is continuing with the lawsuit against the City of Buffalo but, the Police Commissioner planned to reinstate the two Officers today.

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 18: Ow! My Balls! Edition

I've had some direct experience with control, ahem, tactics such as this. 

Back in late March 2022, Officer Travis Lewis and another Indianapolis Metro Police Officer were called to the scene for a possible burglary in progress.  There was no suspect, no apparent attempted burglary, and no other crime in progress.  Police then ran a name check on the caller who appeared to have an active Order of Protection prohibiting from being at the residence in question.  In such an offense, being present in violation of a court order is a mandatory arrest no discretion for the Officer.

This is were you step in and deal with the issue straight up.  Tell the guy he seems to have an OOP.  If, he starts telling you he isn't going anywhere you move on to handcuffing him... maybe.  Using words and persuasion is always preferable to force even, the lightest of force.  But, that's not what seemingly happened as the Officers on scene handcuffed the suspect* and tried to get him into the back of the squad car.  

At this point the Officers should already be verifying the Court Order is valid. And I don't know what was going on before the ball twisting use of force; maybe Ofc Lewis was tired, hungry, sleepy or ready to go home.  Maybe dispatch verified the court order incorrectly.  Maybe the innocent suspect was engaged in an act of "Aggravated Mopery"  whatever, the result was Lewis grabbed the guys nuts a couple of times in order to get him into the back of the squad car.

It seems the other Officer on scene came forward to the Department about the Use of Force policy violation, that's commendable and very brave, and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has only released partial video of the incident and while they conduct an investigation but, several charges of battery and official misconduct have already been filed against the Officer.

There's a whole host of other factors which could be at play here, Ofc Lewis direct supervisors may have expected him to (or ordered him to) clear up the call quickly and move on to others.  Maybe the department has a policy of handcuffing suspects immediately.  I hope he gets a proper defense but, all Officers should know by now Times have Changed.  

A decade ago such an interaction wouldn't have resulted in criminal charges nor a department investigation and probably would have gotten the Officer involved a round of pats on the back and joking Attaboy's.  Because Policing in the United States has always been comfortable with the causal use of violence or threat of violence directed at "mopes". 

"Mopes" is a term of long lineage used by Police and Courtroom Officials for suspects but, as Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve highlighted in her phenomenal book Crook County: Racism and Injustice in America's Largest Criminal Court, the term broadly applies to anyone who interferes or slows down the rapid dispensing of "justice" in the criminal justice system.

But, post-Ferguson in 2014 and definitely post George Floyd these types of incidents are more and more frequently caught en flagrante delicto by body camera and citizens cell phones and can no longer be brushed aside or tolerated by a civilized society let alone applauded.  Of course, the adoption of casual violence against suspects is in direct violation of Sir Robert Peel's instructions to the newly created Metropolitan Police of London in 1829 and the still pertinent rules for Police conduct as crafted post World War 2, Principle #6; 

The police should use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient to achieve police objectives.

But, those rules governed Policing in the British Commonwealth.  The history of Policing in the United States diverged as it was in direct response to the pressures of Industrialization, the influx of immigrants of differing cultures and language, and the recent emancipation of black Americans from Slavery with the addition of Frontier Justice aimed at controlling and eradicating Native Americans and Mestizoes. 

*- I should point out this is the pernicious quality of Police parlance as the caller was innocent of any crime but, at this point in the narrative and interaction with the Officers he was a "suspect" for a Violation of Order of Protection.  So, using force on him has been, for many years, okay.

The Revenge of the Thin Blue Line 16: Police Misconduct? What a Buncha Joey Baloney!

Hey! Remember Philadelphia Police Lt. Joseph Bologna? Old Joey was emblematic of the Police response to public protests over excessive police violence and brutality... i.e. he subjected people to excessive police violence!

But, despite the non-stop lies propagated by Andy Ngo and the rightwing provocateurs about who perpetrated violence in the 2020 protests (unfortunately it appears overwhelmingly it was the Police themselves and outside rightwing agitators).

But, that's what makes protests so enticing for the nascent ground-up fascist movement which is consuming the Right.  Throughout, American history any protest or agitation which has a socialist or left-wing flavor is met with overwhelming force from the Police and the Government with the tactic approval of the norm public.  Examples range from Haymarket Square in 1886 (which created the false sobriquet "Bomb-Throwing Anarchist") to Kent State in 1970, when Nixon and the National Guard opened fire on Anti-War protesters (4 Dead in Ohio).

But, rightwing violence is coddled and encouraged in the United States; one need look no further than the Attempted Republican overthrow of the Government on Jan 6 2021, when elected Republican officials encouraged violence and cheered the crowd of conservative criminals to take over the Capitol and murder Democratic Representatives. 

But, back to Bologna.  In June 2020, Bologna beat a Temple University Evan Gorski on video 

"Bologna turned to Gorski and raised his baton, Gorski backed away and briefly covered his own face with his hand. Bologna then struck him forcefully with the baton."

Gorski recquired 10 staples for his head wound.  Bologna then fabricated a case against Gorski and arrested him for "Battery to PO" and maintained Gorski's injury, after having attacked Officers, was the result of his fall.  Too bad for Joey the video was widely spread.  And while Lt. Bologna is facing charges simple assault and a weapons charge, what he did was deadly force as any Police Department anywhere will have a Use of Force policy which indicates strikes to the head or aimed at the head are deadly force.

Now, of course, right-wingers, despite maintaining one should never trust the government, 100% backed Joey Bologna, accepted his version of events, castigated Gorski and every other person assaulted by Bologna, and wore t-shirts defending his violence.  Well, as the wheels of justice grind slowly former Lt. Bologna is finally facing charges this month from several of his latest victims.