Discussion for article #234021
Very funny and true lol
Funny idea, but I think sheâs still trying to find her timing a bit.
Not much of an exaggeration. From the Washington Post:
The year was 2007. And a Ferguson officer who noticed the illegally parked vehicle issued its driver, an African American woman, two citations and a ticket for $151.
To the driver, who had bounced in and out of homelessness, the fine was draconian. She couldnât pay it in full. So over the next seven years, the woman missed several deadlines and court dates. That tacked on more fees, more payment deadlines, more charges. She ultimately spent six days in jail. All because she didnât park her car correctly. As of December 2014, the woman had paid the city of Ferguson $550 resulting from a $151 ticket.
The Ferguson police and courts have come under broad criticism for discriminatory practices. Eighty-five percent of people subjected to vehicle stops are African American, according to the report. Ninety percent of people hit with citations are African American. Ninety-three percent of people arrested are African American.
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The police routinely discriminate against the poor. They go after people in old cars, people who arenât dressed like a white collar worker, people who live in low income areas, etc. If you are black or brown, they go after you anyway. Why? Because the poor canât afford a lawyer to fight the discrimination. At this point, these fines and penalties amount to a sin tax for not being rich and successful. How did it come to this? There are broad reasons in the excellent report from the DoJ. One major one is because municipalities are staved for cash. The poor are an easy target. Shame on our elected officials for their cruel cowardice, and shame on us for looking the other way. But, especially shame on the wealthy. When they were taxed at a more American rate of excessive taxes on excessive income, our infrastructure was sound, even the poor lived in decent neighborhoods, and the police were respected enforcers of the law. Stop soaking the poor and start soaking the rich.
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Boy, is that the truth. The Atlantic had a pretty comprehensive piece about the report and it was clear the police had made an entrenched, institutionalized racket out of shaking people down for fines based on absurdly minor or nonexistent infractions. When the police act like a gang with the blessing of the municipal government, things have gotten pretty bad.
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The cops are just the point of the spear. The people who should be held responsible for this mess are the local Mayor, members of the city counsel, the Municipal Prosecutor, the Municipal Judge and the Circuit Court Judge assigned to oversee the Ferguson municipal court. They are the officials who run the fine collection racket and encourage the abuses. They will scurry like cockroaches if somebody calls them out.
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i get the âmanner of walkingâ tickets. example. 2 lane residential street. 5 black teens walking spread out so it is impossible to pass without hitting them with your car. after 30 seconds of blocking traffic they move over and let you by. this happens all the time. it is also how the michael brown incident started with the cop. he and his buddy were walking in the middle of the street. stop it! i am NOT for cops handing out indiscriminate tickets to black people to fund the local communities.
There are other parties that share some of the responsibility for the Ferguson mess. The St. Louis newspapers and local television stations should be covering the story regularly. If they did maybe local politicians would think twice about embracing the fine collection model of municipal funding.
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Everyone in Real America knows that âbreathing while blackâ is a perfectly legitimate problem⌠in Real America.
Yep, again itâs the blah peopleâs fault for not putting in sidewalks in their neighborhoods.
I get the point about walking down the middle of the street, but prove thatâs was the situation referred to in the DOJ report. Youâve found a new way to blame Mike Brown for his death, congrats, itâs been all of three days since someone else did that.
If the lack of sidewalks is an issue, thatâs something the town could address, since it PROJECTED over $2M in fines for this year. If you doubt the number, look up reports from the first town meeting after the protests. The mayor stated that one change would be fewer fines. How can you predict fewer fines? That means either the people after going to commit fewer offenses or the Police are going to ticket less, and with ticketing people for manner of walking, you are not trying to improve the climate in town, you are turning citizens into revenue sources.
By heaping multiple fines on people, the Police and Courts are putting people in a position where they cannot pay the fines immediately, forced to enter into payment plans, which in turn, means having to appear to make payments, and late/missed payments mean more fines. In effect, you create small revenue streams from your residents and people who drive through town.
I donât live in that area, but I did have to go to traffic court near my town, and the Clerk announced before the start of court that there is an addition $190 for anyone that has to enter into a payment plan. They probably charge more than that in the towns around St Louis.
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Praise you Jon
Well done!!
She has no future as a prop comic. Sheâs at her best when she doesnât have to stay on script. Klepper (and Jones) is the one who can pull off the costumes and props. But he was a little on the pale side for this bit.
I donât think the credit card industry could have done a better job.
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I think it even threw Stewart a bit, no rhythm to this piece. I think the âstaying on scriptâ is spot-on, sheâs clearly very talented and appealing.
Larry Wilborn also covered this on his most recent show too, in a couple very funny skits.
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Very well executed.
I see how this works. As long as weâre poking fun, we donât have to think about how white supremacy is manifested in the real world. Itâs all about âtiming.â
This example could more sensibly be addressed as âobstructing trafficâ, no? âManner of walkingâ is just chicanery.
i certainly did not blame michael brownâs death on michael brown. your interpretation did that. i stated a fact. the point is that it is rude and annoying to have kids intentionally block traffic just to piss people off. i am suggesting that this widespread tactic should stop.