Minneapolis Social Injustice and Related

[j44ke]

ProPublica report written by their Deputy Managing Editor Eric Umansky after investigating an incident involving NYPD that his wife and kids witnessed in Brooklyn on Halloween. His investigation reveals what are essentially standard operating procedures and a thick layer of protections that inhibit investigation.

My Family Saw a Police Car Hit a Kid on Halloween. Then I Learned How NYPD Impunity Works. — ProPublica

[htwoopup]

Since many here are not in NYC, related to the thread and also to cycling....

Thousands Join N.Y.C. Bike Protests: ‘It’s Like Riding in the Cavalry’ - The New York Times

[guido]

Militias flocked to Gettysburg to foil a supposed antifa flag burning, an apparent hoax created on social media | Washington Post

"GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, PA. — For weeks, a mysterious figure on social media talked up plans for antifa protesters to converge on this historical site on Independence Day to burn American flags, an event that seemed at times to border on the farcical.

“Let’s get together and burn flags in protest of thugs and animals in blue,” the anonymous person behind a Facebook page called Left Behind USA wrote in mid-June. There would be antifa face paint, the person wrote, and organizers would “be giving away free small flags to children to safely throw into the fire.”

As word spread, self-proclaimed militias, bikers, skinheads and far-right groups from outside the state issued a call to action, pledging in online videos and posts to come to Gettysburg to protect the Civil War monuments and the nation’s flag from desecration. Some said they would bring firearms and use force if necessary.

On Saturday afternoon, in the hours before the flag burning was to start, they flooded in by the hundreds — heavily armed and unaware, it seemed, that the mysterious Internet poster was not who the person claimed to be."

[vertical_doug]

Militias flocked to Gettysburg to foil a supposed antifa flag burning, an apparent hoax created on social media | Washington Post

"GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, PA. — For weeks, a mysterious figure on social media talked up plans for antifa protesters to converge on this historical site on Independence Day to burn American flags, an event that seemed at times to border on the farcical.

“Let’s get together and burn flags in protest of thugs and animals in blue,” the anonymous person behind a Facebook page called Left Behind USA wrote in mid-June. There would be antifa face paint, the person wrote, and organizers would “be giving away free small flags to children to safely throw into the fire.”

As word spread, self-proclaimed militias, bikers, skinheads and far-right groups from outside the state issued a call to action, pledging in online videos and posts to come to Gettysburg to protect the Civil War monuments and the nation’s flag from desecration. Some said they would bring firearms and use force if necessary.

On Saturday afternoon, in the hours before the flag burning was to start, they flooded in by the hundreds — heavily armed and unaware, it seemed, that the mysterious Internet poster was not who the person claimed to be."

It's just practice for after the election and if Trump loses, someone screams the election was stolen, mobilize to protect our president.

[guido]

It's just practice for after the election and if Trump loses, someone screams the election was stolen, mobilize to protect our president.

Most definitely...

[Matthew Strongin]

Militias flocked to Gettysburg to foil a supposed antifa flag burning, an apparent hoax created on social media | Washington Post

"GETTYSBURG NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, PA. — For weeks, a mysterious figure on social media talked up plans for antifa protesters to converge on this historical site on Independence Day to burn American flags, an event that seemed at times to border on the farcical.

“Let’s get together and burn flags in protest of thugs and animals in blue,” the anonymous person behind a Facebook page called Left Behind USA wrote in mid-June. There would be antifa face paint, the person wrote, and organizers would “be giving away free small flags to children to safely throw into the fire.”

As word spread, self-proclaimed militias, bikers, skinheads and far-right groups from outside the state issued a call to action, pledging in online videos and posts to come to Gettysburg to protect the Civil War monuments and the nation’s flag from desecration. Some said they would bring firearms and use force if necessary.

On Saturday afternoon, in the hours before the flag burning was to start, they flooded in by the hundreds — heavily armed and unaware, it seemed, that the mysterious Internet poster was not who the person claimed to be."

Thanks for posting, Guy. I recommend people read the entire article, but if you want the TL;DR version it goes like this:

Internet troll creates news of a hoax flag burning. Militias and bikers, some sporting the Confederate flag, descend upon the "turning point" battlefield. The multiple layers of irony appeared to be lost. Militia man claims that it doesn't matter if it was a hoax or not, "they made a threat" and needed their voices heard. More irony is lost. Man shows up in a BLM shirt, gets harassed because, you know, we're here to celebrate freedom, and requires a police escort to get out.

[htwoopup]

This just sickened me this morning. WTF.

First, a bunch of white guys claiming to « own the land » beat and terrorize a black guy and then in a protest of this a guy drives a car into the crowd and drives off with people on the hood of the car?

And the US president is calling who « animals »???

Absolutely disgusted.

Car hits Indiana protesters, flees with woman on hood - New York Daily News

[johnmdesigner]

"Most Of Our Powers Were Taken Away": NYPD Blames Reforms For Increase In Violent Crime - Gothamist

Beyond pathetic.

[caleb]

In 2020, this is America.

[HorsCat]

Personally, I'm #TiredOfAllThisWinning . The motherfucker said I would be. For once in his godforsaken life, he was right.

[Todd Amunrud]

Interesting that there are no ID’s for these soldiers and state patrol officer. Only a helmet #.

[vertical_doug]

Facebook boycott: Civil rights groups call meeting '''a disappointment'''

Since its a business website, CNBC is a little more gentle on the disappointment ADL felt after meeting Facebook today.

They keep telling Facebook you can't be neutral on hate speech, but Facebook doesn't want to hear it. I like how one civil rights leader said 'Facebook showed up like they would get a A for Attendance.'.

Anyone else thing Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In book was nothing but bullsh!t.

[ides1056]

In 2020, this is America.

one guy doesn't have laces in his boots, and frankly if I were all kitted out for incoming projectiles I would definitely want my privates armored

[caleb]

one guy doesn't have laces in his boots, and frankly if I were all kitted out for incoming projectiles I would definitely want my privates armored

The guy in the middle - the one with laces in his boots - also doesn't appear to have a clip in his rifle.

[robin3mj]

The guy in the middle - the one with laces in his boots - also doesn't appear to have a clip in his rifle.

That's about the only positive takeaway from that photo.
The counter to that is whoever placed him there has a goal of intimidating the local population.

[Chik]

The guy in the middle - the one with laces in his boots - also doesn't appear to have a clip in his rifle.

[guido]

Police brutality, systemic racism, and a hidden ideology helped shape American policing - Vox

"Arthur Rizer is a former police officer and 21-year veteran of the US Army, where he served as a military policeman. Today, he heads the criminal justice program at the R Street Institute, a center-right think tank in DC. And he wants you to know that American policing is even more broken than you think.

“That whole thing about the bad apple? I hate when people say that,” Rizer tells me. “The bad apple rots the barrel. And until we do something about the rotten barrel, it doesn’t matter how many good fucking apples you put in.”

To illustrate the problem, Rizer tells a story about a time he observed a patrol by some officers in Montgomery, Alabama. They were called in to deal with a woman they knew had mental illness; she was flailing around and had cut someone with a broken plant pick. To subdue her, one of the officers body-slammed her against a door. Hard.

Rizer recalls that Montgomery officers were nervous about being watched during such a violent arrest — until they found out he had once been a cop. They didn’t actually have any problem with what one of them had just done to the woman; in fact, they started laughing about it.

“It’s one thing to use force and violence to affect an arrest. It’s another thing to find it funny,” he tells me. “It’s just pervasive throughout policing. When I was a police officer and doing these kind of ride-alongs [as a researcher], you see the underbelly of it. And it’s ... gross.”

America’s epidemic of police violence is not limited to what’s on the news. For every high-profile story of a police officer killing an unarmed Black person or tear-gassing peaceful protesters, there are many, many allegations of police misconduct you don’t hear about — abuses ranging from excessive use of force to mistreatment of prisoners to planting evidence. African Americans are arrested and roughed up by cops at wildly disproportionate rates, relative to both their overall share of the population and the percentage of crimes they commit.

Something about the way police relate to the communities they’re tasked with protecting has gone wrong. Officers aren’t just regularly treating people badly; a deep dive into the motivations and beliefs of police reveals that too many believe they are justified in doing so.

To understand how the police think about themselves and their job, I interviewed more than a dozen former officers and experts on policing. These sources, ranging from conservatives to police abolitionists, painted a deeply disturbing picture of the internal culture of policing. "

[mjbabcock]

The guy in the middle - the one with laces in his boots - also doesn't appear to have a clip in his rifle.

I’ll bet he has the tops laced because he has a wide midfoot. The other guy has a bullet in the chamber and a clip ready to load in under 10 seconds. To laugh at him or to try to find humor in the militarization of our streets is dangerous.

[thollandpe]

What are those devices on top of the Humvees?

[vertical_doug]

What are those devices on top of the Humvees?

Hard to tell, but maybe a LRAD (sound cannon) for crowd control.