kpete
kpete's JournalA single death can be understood as a collective threat.
In the days after 9/11, it was common to hear people say that it was the first time Americans had really experienced terrorism on their own soil. Those sentiments were historically wrong, and willfully put aside acts that were organized on a large scale, had a political goal, and were committed with the specific intention of being nightmarishly memorable. The death cult that was lynching furnished this country with such spectacles for a half century. (The tallies vary, but, by some estimates, there were thirty-three hundred lynchings in the decades between the end of Reconstruction and the civil-rights era.) We know intuitively, not abstractly, about terrorism’s theatrical intent. The sight of Michael Brown, sprawled on Canfield Drive for four hours in the August sun, dead at the hands of an officer who was unnamed for a week, recalled that memory. It had the effect of reminding that crowd of spontaneous mourners of their own refuted humanity. A single death can be understood as a collective threat. The media didn’t whip up these concerns among the black population; history did that.
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/world-ferguson?utm_source=tny&utm_campaign=generalsocial&utm_medium=twitter&mbid=social_twittermichael
"Unpopular Police Officer Thinking About Committing Racially Motivated Offense For A Little Support"
Unpopular Police Officer Thinking About Committing Racially Motivated Offense For A Little Support
NEWS IN BRIEF • Local • Police • ISSUE 50•34 • Aug 27, 2014
?7006
INDIANAPOLIS—Tired of being overlooked by everyone in his precinct, unpopular Indianapolis Police Department officer Kyle Norris told reporters Wednesday he was considering committing a racially motivated offense to generate a little support. “To be honest, I’m not the most well-known or looked-up-to guy around here, but I’m thinking that if I get caught up in a controversy after shooting a minority resident under questionable circumstances, things would really change for me,” said Norris, who added that having his coworkers immediately rally around him after the incident, watching consecutive nights of public demonstrations defending his actions, and finally receiving praise directly from the chief of police would be a nice change of pace from his day-to-day life as an ignored and unappreciated member of the force. “Obviously, I’d take some heat from some citizens, but I think it would be worth it when just as many people respond by openly speaking about my exemplary record as an officer and calling me a pillar of the community. No one’s ever said that about me before. If this thing gets big enough, I might even see some people on Twitter and TV calling me a hero—that would feel good.” Norris added that it would probably also be a nice little boost when the 12 members of his jury take less than an hour to declare him not guilty.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/unpopular-police-officer-thinking-about-committing,36790/
Michael Brown's Mom Laid Flowers Where He Was Shot---Police Crushed Them-Let Dog Urinate On Memorial
Michael Brown's Mom Laid Flowers Where He Was Shot—and Police Crushed ThemNew details emerge about callous tactics that fueled anger in Ferguson.
As darkness fell on Canfield Drive on August 9, a makeshift memorial sprang up in the middle of the street where Michael Brown's body had been sprawled in plain view for more than four hours. Flowers and candles were scattered over the bloodstains on the pavement. Someone had affixed a stuffed animal to a streetlight pole a few yards away. Neighborhood residents and others were gathering, many of them upset and angry.
Soon, police vehicles reappeared, including from the St. Louis County Police Department, which had taken control of the investigation. Several officers emerged with dogs. What happened next, according to several sources, was emblematic of what has inflamed the city of Ferguson, Missouri, ever since the unarmed 18-year-old was gunned down: An officer on the street let the dog he was controlling urinate on the memorial site.
The incident was related to me separately by three state and local officials who worked with the community in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. One confirmed that he interviewed an eyewitness, a young woman, and pressed her on what exactly she saw. "She said that the officer just let the dog pee on it," that official told me. "She was very distraught about it." The identity of the officer who handled the dog and the agency he was with remain unclear.
Candles and flowers marking the spot where Brown died were soon run over by police vehicles.
The day brought other indignities for Brown's family, and the community. Missouri state Rep. Sharon Pace, whose district includes the neighborhood where the shooting occurred, told me she went to the scene that afternoon to comfort the parents, who were blocked by police from approaching their son's body. Pace purchased some tea lights for the family, and around 7 p.m. she joined Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, and others as they placed the candles and sprinkled flowers on the ground where Brown had died. "They spelled out his initials with rose petals over the bloodstains," Pace recalled.
MORE:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/08/ferguson-st-louis-police-tactics-dogs-michael-brown
Let's not.
?1409104457
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/08/27/1324856/-Cartoon-Let-s-Be-Cops
McConnell: I’m really proud of this Supreme Court-It’s only 5 to 4, & I pray for the health of the 5
The best Supreme Court in anybody’s memory ... I’m really proud of this Supreme Court ... It’s only five to four, and I pray for the health of the five.
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/27/mitch_mcconnell%E2%80%99s_secret_father%E2%80%99s_day_gift_to_the_koch_brothers/
Tulsa's Army National Guard Base Accidentally Covered In Foam
Tulsa's Army National Guard Base Accidentally Covered In Foam
TULSA, Oklahoma - Fire suppression foam accidentally covered several helicopters at the Oklahoma Army National Guard base in Tulsa Tuesday morning. The foam didn't cause any damage to the choppers and didn't cause any injuries.
The base is located next to Highway 169 at 46th Street North.
A civilian contractor was testing the base's alarm and safety system and accidentally triggered the suppression foam equipment inside the hangars. The foam filled the hangars and buried ten Black Hawk helicopters, seven parked in the hangars and three on the ramp outside.
................
Kavanagh says the unit has 11 Black Hawks and only one of them escaped contact with the foam.
http://www.newson6.com/story/26372082/tulsas-army-national-guard-base-covered-in-fire-suppression-foam
Jon Stewart to Fox/Hannity/O'Reilly:"Race Is A Constant-You really do have no f*cking idea, do you?"
He took Bill O'Reilly to task for cutting his vacation short to rage against the way the media covered the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown, but not at the shooting itself. The comedian also slammed Sean Hannity for saying that he would simply lift his shirt to let an officer know he had a gun if he were ever stopped by police.
"You really do have no f*cking idea, do you?" he said. "If only Michael Brown, instead of holding his hands over his head, had reached down to his waist and lifted up his shirt to show the gun he did not actually have, well, this whole tragedy could have been avoided."
...................
To illustrate, he shared that a white "The Daily Show" producer clad in "homeless elf attire" once went out in New York City to tape an interview, accompanied by a black correspondent for the show dressed in a well-tailored suit. The black correspondent was the one stopped when entering the building.
"Race is there, and it is a constant," Stewart said. "You're tired of hearing about it? Imagine how f*cking exhausting it is living it."
.....
Video & More:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jon-stewart-ferguson
You want edgy? Put Liberals on teevee. Real Liberals.
From the New York Times:
...
Her new vision for “Meet the Press” includes adding a regular panel of journalists who will question guests, something of a return to the venerable show’s original format. “The show needs more edge,” she said. “It needs to be consequential. I think the show had become a talking shop that raked over the cold embers of what had gone on the previous week. The one-on-one conversation belongs to a decade ago. We need more of a coffeehouse conversation.”
...
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2014/08/you-want-edgy.html
You want edgy?
Put Liberals on teevee. Real Liberals.
It's just that simple.
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2014/08/you-want-edgy.html
OBAMA PURSUING 'SWEEPING' INT'L CLIMATE ACCORD
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is working to forge a sweeping international climate change agreement to compel nations to cut their planet-warming fossil fuel emissions, but without ratification from Congress.
In preparation for this agreement, to be signed at a United Nations summit meeting in 2015 in Paris, the negotiators are meeting with diplomats from other countries to broker a deal to commit some of the world’s largest economies to enact laws to reduce their carbon pollution. But under the Constitution, a president may enter into a legally binding treaty only if it is approved by a two-thirds majority of the Senate.
To sidestep that requirement, President Obama’s climate negotiators are devising what they call a “politically binding” deal that would “name and shame” countries into cutting their emissions. The deal is likely to face strong objections from Republicans on Capitol Hill and from poor countries around the world, but negotiators say it may be the only realistic path.
“If you want a deal that includes all the major emitters, including the U.S., you cannot realistically pursue a legally binding treaty at this time,” said Paul Bledsoe, a top climate change official in the Clinton administration who works closely with the Obama White House on international climate change policy.
MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/us/politics/obama-pursuing-climate-accord-in-lieu-of-treaty.html?_r=0
Profile Information
Member since: Fri Sep 17, 2004, 03:59 PMNumber of posts: 71,980
