The Thread on Politics

[Why did Sarah Palin resign?]

Why did Sarah Palin resign?

Personal scandal

 5 (17.2%)

Probable indictment

 7 (24.1%)

Just plain craziness

 3 (10.3%)

Looooong lead up to 2012

 4 (13.8%)

Something else

 2 (6.9%)

Some combination of the above

 8 (27.6%)

Total Members Voted: 29

[Julie Fern]

you not wrong. but not this legitimate attempt get description of men going into house?

Sorry, I missed this...while perhaps legitimate, a better approach would have been to ask the caller about the men's races generally, or at least to throw "white" in there too.

911:  "Were they white, black, or hispanic?"

[Rudy Huckleberry]

All po-pos are racist. Especially the minorities!

[A.]

you not wrong. but not this legitimate attempt get description of men going into house?

Sorry, I missed this...while perhaps legitimate, a better approach would have been to ask the caller about the men's races generally, or at least to throw "white" in there too.

911:  "Were they white, black, or hispanic?"

Yes, that's supposedly what he said, but I listened twice and never heard the "white" part.

[Kirk Lazarus]

Yeah I said I'm not sure he should be fired.

I know, I was just wondering why you were not sure.

[A.]

Oh, just my usual hedging.  Based on the information currently available, he should not be fired.

[Julie Fern]

you not wrong. but not this legitimate attempt get description of men going into house?

Sorry, I missed this...while perhaps legitimate, a better approach would have been to ask the caller about the men's races generally, or at least to throw "white" in there too.

911: "Were they white, black, or hispanic?"

Yes, that's supposedly what he said, but I listened twice and never heard the "white" part.

ah.

[Miss P]

Yeah I said I'm not sure he should be fired.

I know, I was just wondering why you were not sure.

I don't think he should be fired (at all), but I could see an investigation into the likely inaccuracies in his police report.  For instance, he claims that Whalen told him that she saw two black men with backpacks trying to break in, but just a few seconds earlier, she was very clear that she didn't know the race of the two men.  It's possible, of course, that she changed her story, but that's what an investigation would uncover.  We seldom have the opportunity to go back and check the accuracy of police reports like this, yet we rely on them to put people behind bars.

I also think the department and departments across the country should issue better guidelines to their officers about when to arrest people for disorderly conduct.  This is the kind of thing that would be dismissed at arraignments in New York (what you might call "initial appearance" elsewhere), so no one ever takes the time out to think about why people have been arrested in the first place.  Nonetheless, being arrested is actually a huge disruption in one's life, and once you're in the system, it's harder and harder to stay out.  Moreover, when members of your community are routinely arrested without cause, it undermines the authority and integrity of the system much more than a little yelling at an individual police officer ever could.

[Burning Sands, Esq.]

Yeah I said I'm not sure he should be fired.

I know, I was just wondering why you were not sure.

I don't think he should be fired (at all), but I could see an investigation into the likely inaccuracies in his police report.  For instance, he claims that Whalen told him that she saw two black men with backpacks trying to break in, but just a few seconds earlier, she was very clear that she didn't know the race of the two men.  It's possible, of course, that she changed her story, but that's what an investigation would uncover.  We seldom have the opportunity to go back and check the accuracy of police reports like this, yet we rely on them to put people behind bars.

I also think the department and departments across the country should issue better guidelines to their officers about when to arrest people for disorderly conduct.  This is the kind of thing that would be dismissed at arraignments in New York (what you might call "initial appearance" elsewhere), so no one ever takes the time out to think about why people have been arrested in the first place.  Nonetheless, being arrested is actually a huge disruption in one's life, and once you're in the system, it's harder and harder to stay out.  Moreover, when members of your community are routinely arrested without cause, it undermines the authority and integrity of the system much more than a little yelling at an individual police officer ever could.

I concur.

[| J |]

Moreover, when members of your community are routinely arrested without cause, it undermines the authority and integrity of the system much more than a little yelling at an individual police officer ever could.

Unfortunately, I think more of us are arrested with probable cause then without.

The New York Times had an interesting table up a few weeks ago, showing murders for the past five years.  Approximately 60% of the perps and victims were black males between 18 and 30.  Those the types of statistics you might expect from a genocide, except it's us killing ourselves.

Civil rights are well and good, but at this point, I think we're doing more damage to our communities than some racist cops ever could.

[A.]

I also think the department and departments across the country should issue better guidelines to their officers about when to arrest people for disorderly conduct. 

Indeed.  You read about this one?

http://abovethelaw.com/2009/07/a_gay_gatesgate_pepin_tuma.php