Freedom of speech does not trump a business’ s right to establish policies that regulate dress codes in the workplace. The Browns and every other professional sports franchise should set those policies now and include disciplinary measures for violation. These folks can do what they want on their own time. As if we didn’t get enough of both sides constantly in news reports, we ought to have the right to enjoy professional sports without such expressions.
The theory the founders held to was that truth would prevail when ideas were freely contested. This process is disrupted if one class of ideas in systematically excluded and it doesn’t matter whether that exclusion is caused by the government or by some other element of society, society as a whole in that situation is less likely to reach the right conclusion because they have not been exposed to all views and facts.
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The “Shut Up and Sing” amendment
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Remember context - yes, in the coroner’s report the word ‘homicide’ is used - a term that we commonly view as a indicating a crime has been committed - but in the language of a coroner’s report, it is a term that technically only means ‘a human being killed by another human being’ -
the coroner analyses the dead body & the factors that caused it to be dead - the coroner does not assess accident vs intentional, does not pronounce a judgment regarding justification - or criminality - the coroner leaves that to the prosecutors and the courts.
That having been said - this is a hideous case - one where the police officer should never have been hired - should never have been out on patrol - and should be subject to prosecution for his reckless and egregiously poor judgment.
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The business didn’t have a problem with it… the police union did.
So your right to enjoy sport in peace with out being exposed to ideas different than your own trumps the players rights to express themselves? Bet you never objected to folks crossing themselves.
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It is amazing just how clueless a lot of white people are on this topic. Their ignorance is a real tribute to Fox News and its ability to sell just about any immoral anything.
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Or the cop would be in jail.
CPD are a bunch of thin-skinned little pussies.
Some guy wears a T-Shirt and they lose their shit over it?
Christ, no wonder no one trusts the Brown shirts (I’m sorry, the Cleveland Police Dept.) anymore.
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We should raise money to buy a billboard in Cleveland metro area with the caption “Cops that kill unarmed citizens” followed by photo and/or names of the cops involved in these incidents. Sadly the billboard will have to be a living document as these incidents never stop.
I don’t think that it will be libel or slander as the billboard will just be stating a fact - speech protected by First Amendment.
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As far as the police waiting for an apology, there is an old saying that applies. “Don’t Hold Your Breathe”.
Let the cops apologize for killing unarmed people first, then we’ll talk,
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With all due respect, fuck you, Mr. Follmer.
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For some people I think it’s an unconscious response to automatically search for some sort of justification in order to protect their white privilege that they deny even exists. It goes to the heart of the problem of why the justice system is inherently racist.
What’s needed is a change in people’s attitude towards other races. I’ve seen suggestions that body cameras won’t make any difference but I disagree. I think the country started to wake up to racial injustice when they saw images of Bloody Sunday on their tv’s in the 60’s.
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They are public employees, and they deserve a union to protect their rights as workers and to negotiate for them just as much as teachers or any other civil servant. That doesn’t mean I agree with the police unions’ demands for apologies in these circumstances, but I can disagree with them on this without saying they don’t deserve to exist.
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Yeah, them being at will employees of a corrupt local government would be just as bad. The good guys would be the ones fired.
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Naaaaah, that’s sort of backwards. Let’s reorient it: They are against justice for victims of gun shootings if the victim happens to be a darky.
Because, let’s fucking face it, stand your ground laws and such are all about making it open season on bown folks based on their inherentk presumed scariness to white bigots, who know full well that they can play that up in front of a mostly white jury. The police will be happy to drop a few public bombs, like only part of a store video that doesn’t show the part where the kid pays for his cigarillos or maybe leaking a juvenile record despite it being sealed, to assist in the acquittal.
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wow, not only can the cops kill kids with impunity and without due cause, they can also get the knuckle draggers that head their unions to bark like a dog when citizens use their right to free speech to speak out against their obviously shameful behavior…only in the new and improved America.
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F***ing mafia techniques. Look for police confrontations with NFL players and, of course, it will be the player’s fault (not).
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It’s pretty pathetic when police union crybabies engage in name-calling when confronted with relatively tame public criticism of extremely serious policing issues.
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Oh, NICELY DONE!!
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