Discussion for article #230793
When Stewart is at a loss for words, we as a society have some serious problems.
Where do we go from here?
11 Likes
I really don’t know.
I know what to say. This is a load of horseshit. Since when did our police departments become infallible? these two decisions are the equivalent of telling police that they can do whatever they want without consequence. It is a green light for them to use brutality for no good reason. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
11 Likes
Jon Stewart is at a loss for words, but I guess we can count on Joe Scarborough and minions to explain how black man = thug.
7 Likes
Eric Garner was a career petty criminal who’d experienced dozens of arrests, but had learned nothing from them. Yet another arrest was under way when, suddenly, Garner balked. “This ends here,” he shouted — as it turned out, tragically prophetic words — as he struggled with the arresting officer.
This was a bad decision by Garner. He suffered from a range of medical ailments — advanced diabetes, plus heart disease and asthma so severe that either malady might have killed him.
Still, he fought — and at one point during the struggle, a cop wrapped his arm around Garner’s neck.
That image was captured on bystander video and later presented as irrefutable evidence of an “illegal” chokehold and, therefore, grounds for a criminal indictment against the cop.
That charge fails, and here’s why.
First, while “chokeholds” are banned by NYPD regulation, they’re not illegal under state law when used by a cop during a lawful arrest. So much for criminal charges, given that nobody seriously disputes the legitimacy of the arrest.
Second, and this speaks to the common allegation that cops are treated “differently” than ordinary citizens in deadly-force cases: Indeed they are — and it is the law itself that confers the privilege.
The law gives cops the benefit of every reasonable doubt in the good-faith performance of their duties — and who would really have it any other way? Cops who need to worry about whether the slightest mishap — a minor misunderstanding that escalates to violence of any sort — might result in criminal charges and a prison term are not cops who are going to put the public’s interests first.
Finally, there is this: There were 228,000 misdemeanor arrests in New York City in 2013, the last year for which there are audited figures, and every one of them had at least the potential to turn into an Eric Garner-like case. None did.
It is an unfortunate fact that this is, sadly, a case where Mr. Garner was a victim of himself.
4 Likes
We send our soldiers around the world to places where we wish them to be more democratic and free. Yet in our own country our police are just as bad as those in third world countries.
3 Likes
It started when we became a police state. When did that happen? Post 9/11.
6 Likes
Well how about focus on the similarities between the Brown and Garner cases, the perversion of the GJ system by allowing the defendant to testify without fear of cross-examination, along with the inclusion of a constant stream of character witnesses, none of whose testimony would be allowed in a criminal trial. The approaches of the two prosecutors from disparate regions are so close as to suggest collusion. But the explanation is probably more simple: police power is out of control no matter where you look.
3 Likes
May your argument bring you comfort when you see the lights in your rear view mirror.
8 Likes
Glad you asked.
Short of something that is structurally impossible in the present-day U.S., we are left with voting for politicians who can make things better. Corporations will not do it. I am all for third parties, but, right now, doing a third party to combat the Republican (racist) Party would be like me starting a store to compete against and beat WalMart in 18 months. That leaves voting for the Democratic Party.
The double-digit I.Q. TeaBaggers knew this dynamic all too well, THAT IS WHY THEY ABSTAINED FROM FORMING A THIRD PARTY AND TOOK OVER AN ALREADY ESTABLISHED PARTY.
What I am saying is that we must vote. For the Democrats.
I know the majority of hot-shot intellectuals don’t like that statement, but there it is.
6 Likes
What a remarkable display of your innate stupidity and your inability to think rationally.
Congratulations!
8 Likes
Remember the guy in “A Tale of Two Cities” who was hounded for decades by a cop for stealing a loaf of bread? Remember the French Revelutiion? It appears that Jeb Bush and the Republicans Party think it was not important of pertains to today.
3 Likes
Way to see the trees but not the forest. At the time of the confrontation, no crime had been witnessed by the cops. And the one alleged, hardly warranted that response. Another minor situation which was escalated by unprofessional police behavior. Garner’s history includes not being armed. How is it possible that the officers had him down, cuffed, yet still felt the need to continue choking. I’ll answer that for you, because the little napoleon cop felt disrespected. And then look at his body and not try to resuscitate?
11 Likes
You’re confusing Charles Dickens with Victor Hugo.
Hugo wrote “Les Miserables” whose plot hinges on the situation you describe.
“A Tale of Two Cities” is about love and doppelgangers.
5 Likes
OK, now that you spewed that irrelevant bile from your depraved, demented heart, go back under to whatever rock you crawled out from. Or should I say the racist precinct you crawled out from under?
8 Likes
In some aspects I appreciate the seemingly calm outlining of arguments you laid out. But I just don’t get how you could watch the video or read the information from the medical examiner and NOT realize they had that man in a choke hold and it killed him. As for your argument that he continued to struggle - yeah - he was choking, attempting to breathe, so of course he struggled. Have your friends choke you and you attempt to lie still. The body goes into a survival mode and all the police did was increase that response by the choke hold and their physical restraint. A history of non-violent petty crimes used to mean you got to have your moment in court to defend yourself. Nowadays it seems that it means you are executed by the police without repercussion.
13 Likes
You are a mockery of humanity. Hopefully your evil shall perish.
7 Likes
The Eric Garner tragedy shows how badly rigged the system is against citizens in police brutality cases. The prosecutor’s office and police department are typically part of the same law enforcement brotherhood. There’s little or no incentive for prosecutors to vigorously go after bad cops. The laws are written to give cops ridiculous amounts of discretion, as they are able to justify nearly any action because they “felt threatened.” And citizens too often look the other way, because they’re just grateful that anyone’s willing to take on a dangerous law enforcement job.
2 Likes
If you should run afoul of the law do not expect the prosecutor to show you the least bit of the compassion given to police officers. In fact it looks like the defense arguments were laid out by the prosecutors here and in the Ferguson case.
2 Likes