Discussion for article #226507
They might go through the motions of reconsidering it, but what the oligarchy wants, the oligarchy gets, and they demand protection from the hoi polloi as they bend government to their will.
You may be right, but it is good that this issue is out in the open. I canât be the only one who had no idea that the police force (âprotect and serve,â remember?) of a small town had routine access to such military weapons.
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-Aw, Andy, why canât I have the neutrino warhead for the mobile launcher?
-Now Barn, ya hafâta remember last summer you left it sitting with Aunt Beeâs contest pickles in the pantry, donât 'cha?
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Makes no difference. Homeland Security hands out billions for them to buy this stuff from defense contractors who show off latest equipment at police expos and etc.
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Looting and engaging in social violence was the only way to get this problem recognized. This is where weâre at now.
Either the one percenters give back what theyâve looted, or use some of that ill gotten gain to keep the proles in their place if they get out of line. I wonder which option theyâll choose?
Just as pilots always want bigger, faster airplanes, cops want bigger, faster military gear.
Please, please,please donât take away our army man toys.
-Sgt. Bubba Squat, Ferguson PD
Unfortunately the MIC beast must be fed a steady diet of greens (dollars). They donât care where it comes from. Our country, another country or in the future, alien planets. The MIC must eat.
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fit
Itâs a Frankenstein, created post WW2, got worse in Ikeâs day.
Today itâs self-perpetuating, like some organism out of sci fi.
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Michael Downing, LAPD Dep. Chief: " âBut we have to come back to being a public servant as quick as we can to establish that normality and that ethical stature with communities, because theyâre the ones who give us the authority to do our police work.ââŚ
Unfortunately, the communities cannot revoke that authority when it is abused. Nor could the 400+ black men and boys killed every year by white cops.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/14/police-killings-data/14060357/
Itâs part of the failed âWar on Drugsâ Something on the order of 60% of the use of SWAT is for no-knock raids looking for drugs. Legalize weed and decriminalize the use of other drugs, then use the ACA to provide treatment. Treat addiction as a medical condition, not a criminal offense. Would greatly decrease the power of the drug cartels, too.
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Here is the basic flaw of military equipment going to civil authorities:
⌠with hammer in hand, everything looks like a nail.
Me, my family, my friends⌠should never be in the crosshairs of our surplus military equipment. Ask the citizens of Ferguson how it feels.
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Military equipment is INCREDIBLY expensive to maintain. Hence our military budget dwarfing every other country.
For police, the catch 22 shows up as⌠more expenses to maintain and support, which means the need to increase revenue (and it is revenue) from tickets, arrests/fines/fees, seizures, DUIs, etc. This is an ugly spiral.
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People is dumb. This gadget is cool. Lets git it.
There is a lot of keystrokes being made about how the militarization of local police forces is tied to terrorism. I feel that we need to look deeper and start with the war on drugs. Just calling the drug problem a war was the beginning. I watched as my local police force (city pop 20,000 In rural northern NY) became more violent with offenders, especially black men, and how police became way more apt to have a hand on a weapon even in traffic stops. The events of 9/11 fed the flames and allowed those who do believe that we are all guilty and the enemy to move to the military model of policing.
The current racial atmosphere in the US has been aggravated by the hate that pours out of Right Wing had media, when Obama was elected the cap on racial hate seems to have come off. We are a police state and just have not taken the time to realize it. Hell in some areas cops are basically tax collectors. Using the law to seize property and issue tickets for anything they can to raise funds for the municipality.
In this instance the wording used when the video was released by the police said more than the video itself, strong armed robbery instead of a simple shoplifter.
We also need to remember African American are way more likely to end up in prison for the same offense than a white person, since the start of the drug war the number of Americans in prison has jumped 700% with Blacks getting the longer sentences and more often than not jail time for offenses that a white would get fine and probation. The problem is way more complex, the slavery issue is still here and it is slowly destroying the nation.