America is a fucking cesspit.

[FJRider]

... Frey, in a plea for peace Thursday night, noted that his government was giving face masks to rioters in an effort to slow coronavirus spread.

"The City encourages everyone to exercise caution to stay safe while participating in demonstrations, including wearing masks and physical distancing as much as possible to prevent the spread of COVID-19," a press release read. "The City has made hundreds of masks available to protesters this week."

That would be a real bitch. Going to a riot and catching the Corona Virus in the process ...

A decent mask may help to allay the risk of smoke inhalation ... but might not do much to stop a Police Baton (or bullet) ...

[jellywrestler]

A decent mask may help to allay the risk of smoke inhalation ... but might not do much to stop a Police Baton (or bullet) ...

but not going there would stop you getting a police baton or bullet....

[TheDemonLord]

Their choice of options are usually limited. In the attempt to save a life (be it the cops themselves or the "Victim" at the time) ... somebody may have to die. For Police anywhere ... life is full of tough decisions and choices. But ... until it's your finger on the trigger ... and you're the one wearing the uniform ... don't be too quick to judge.

Quite the opposite - I'm not judging, only to say that some threats can only be resolved by the use of Lethal force, and that any discussion of the use of Force by the Police needs to keep that reality in mind.

The time available to make decisions ... with all relevant information available ... is often limited. Again ... tough decisions and choices need to be made.

But to the general public are more often than not ... NOT privy to knowledge of the actual situation at the time.

The Black man was killed by a cop. Was it intentional .. ?? or was the cop merely doing what he could to save his own life ... (and the lives of those police and public nearby as well) .. ???

And was the end result just a really good excuse to riot and loot ... ???

Definitely - Hindsight is 20/20 - In this instance though, even the 'side' of the debate that on similar highly publicised 'incidents' have sided with the Police/Officers, have condemned this incident as objectively wrong.

And on that basis, there is something to protest, I don't buy the whole 'institutional Racism' crap, but I'll agree that this needs to be looked at to see what factors were at play and what could/should be changed to try and prevent it in the future.

And yeah - Rioting and Looting - Way to win over public support....


Edit:

Something interesting I saw (sourced from a Black Man, no less):

For every 10,000 Arrests of White Americans made, 4 are killed
For every 10,000 Arrests of Black Americans made, 3 are killed

[jellywrestler]

somewhere it says war veterans are 1.4 times more likely to be shot than non vets, that simply says it's not race based it's behavioural based that gets people shot

[pritch]

The Black man was killed by a cop. Was it intentional .. ?? or was the cop merely doing what he could to save his own life ...

And was the end result just a really good excuse to riot and loot ... ???

In this latest instance the cop knelt on the handcuffed victims neck for nearly nine minutes. That's nine fucking minutes. Including for some minutes after the victim lost consciousness. It would be a wild stretch to claim he was any sort of threat.

The evidence suggests that the rioters and the protestors were not always the same people. Some of the property damage was done by white right wing nutters. Demonstrations and protests often attract people with their own agendas.

The Police were also filmed damaging property, including wrecking a police car, and apparently preparing a fire in an auto parts store. That is not as silly as it sounds, they've done it before. If there's property damage they blame the protestors and can ratchet up the charges.

About the only serious conclusion we can draw is that not all is as it appears.

[TheDemonLord]

Some of the property damage was done by white right wing nutters.

Of course...

Because when the Left Wing is violent, it's always the Right Wing's fault....

[Katman]

The Police were also filmed damaging property, including wrecking a police car, and apparently preparing a fire in an auto parts store.

Do you have a link for that?

[nerrrd]

Historically civilisations have come and gone, maybe this is ours in the process of declining and falling.

Everything tends to chaos apparently.

[sugilite:Me]

Does demonstrating against racial injustice include burning buildings, looting stores, smashing windows and destroying public and private property ... ???

For the most part, I would assume, the demonstrators you see by day, are by and large not the looters coming out at night.
Just scumbags making the most of chaos.

[pritch]

This is just sheer paranoia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...482_story.html

[Katman]

This is just sheer paranoia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...482_story.html

How are you getting on with that link to the police wrecking their own vehicle and preparing the fire in the auto parts store?

[TheDemonLord]

For the most part, I would assume, the demonstrators you see by day, are by and large not the looters coming out at night.
Just scumbags making the most of chaos.

That is *quite* the assumption.

Especially given past behavior, rhetoric, ideology etc.

[Katman]

'Cos I know how you all love msm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n5_D59lSjc

[pritch]

Trump does not much like the Mayor of DC and he has said so on Twitter of course. It transpires though that she is something of a super troll. She has renamed the street pointing toward the White House "Black Lives Matter Plaza" and has had the name painted on the road in yellow super graphics.

[FJRider]

'Cos I know how you all love msm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n5_D59lSjc

The worst case of suicide I've seen for a while ...