Politics And Current Events

Postby **count2infinity** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:30 am

I would guess that nearly all of those looting and rioting aren't doing it in the name of any cause. They are taking advantage of a situation.

This seems to be the situation more and more, each time these type of riots break out. There very well may be people that are organizing protests in honor of the man that was killed, but for the most part the rioters and looters saw an opportunity/excuse to do these actions and are taking advantage of it.

Postby **columbia** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:32 am

Looters gonna loot.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:01 am

These criminals are certainly taking advantage of the situation...but I'm not buying for a second the narrative that it's a "small, small minority of out-of-towners" that are causing this violence. It actually makes me wonder if the mayor has ever lived in her own city. The city has thousands upon thousands of ex-cons to commit some of these disgusting acts, I hardly think they need to bus people in from Southeast DC or Frederick.

In any event, whatever percentage of "protesters" are looting, committing violent assault, etc there are, it's far, far higher than just about any other protest that I can think of in a long time. And that really is the problem. It's a police issue, no doubt, but it most certainly is a racial/class issue as well. And I think people tend to put too much emphasis on class and less on culture.

Postby **Factorial** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:18 am

Apparently they let the schools kids out at 3pm yesterday and by the looks of the early riots they appeared to mostly be those school kids. The footage of them pelting cars with pop cans was disturbing. School is closed today so we'll see what happens with these no good punks.

Postby **Silentom** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:21 am

Glad I don't like outside of Baltimore anymore. Absolutely ridiculous what went on down there.

Postby **grunthy** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:25 am

"Nickel Ride" refers to the act of police officers throwing suspects into the back of a police transporter. The suspects are left without restraints and are thrown around due to the reckless driving of the police, who intend to harm the suspect.
Criminal 1: Yo mang, dat cop gave me a nickel ride.
Criminal 2: Oh say what?
Criminal 1: Yeah, I broke mah neck.
by Anonymous1221646 December 16, 2013

If you really want your stance to be taken seriously, the cop hating Anonymous scumbags aren't really the people you want to quote.

(Okay now im done)
Please tell me more about how to be taken seriously by someone who says "God bless" in a serious way.

Maybe you should calm down and walk away. It's apparent that you cannot have an adult conversation on this subject at this time.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:32 am

I am still trying to wrap my head around what kind of mentality leads to a pack of teenagers descending on a family vehicle with small children inside and trying to smash their way into the car and pull people out. I mean, talk about something that can traumatize these kids (and parents) for a long time.

If there is one major impact I see from these protests, it's probably not the one they were hoping. I am starting to see a pretty significant backlash against the black community on social media and elsewhere. I know quite a few dyed-in-the-wool liberals that have been extremely outspoken in condemning this stuff, and in many instances, along racial lines (whether implicitly or explicitly). Fair or not, in multiple cities across the nation over the last couple of years, we've all seen what's gone on (the directionless violence, senseless destruction, etc). And again, despite the legitimate claims of police brutality in several, but not all, of these cases, people outside these communities are watching career thug after career thug be held up as a martyr to the cause, or hear about how he was misunderstood.

I know I am speaking from an anecdotal standpoint, but having grown up in rural PA and worked in the I-95 corridor for the last eight years, I've gained quite a variety of both friends and colleagues from literally all walks of life. And there is no question there is a rising racial backlash, from Pennsyltucky to the most liberal parts of the NE metro areas. I've seen several people transform over the last 3-4 years from being stridently anti-racism/prejudice to holding a ton of views that would probably be construed as "racist" in today's society. I can vouch when I say that these were not dormant views that have merely bubbled to the surface, these are full-blown changes in the way they view society.

Just wanted to put a big picture view on it and was wondering if anyone else had noticed this. Sure, you are going to have the people that have always been prejudiced, and you can spot them a mile away. But I've really noticed a growing sentiment of disgust, rather than sympathy, towards the urban black community at-large. And that can't be a good thing.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:37 am

It is almost like the destabilizing of the African-American family because of the Great Society programs that replaced Fathers with government checks along with sex without consequence and the war on drugs have worked together to destroy a whole section of American society.

Postby **count2infinity** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:37 am

can anyone give me a tl;dnr on the incident that started this? I think I read something about a traffic stop and the dude ran from police?

Postby **Silentom** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:45 am

I've noticed it to after meeting a lot of different people as a road tech for 5 years, and I can't see it being a good thing at all. The way I've always looked at is that MLKjr would be ashamed of his people if he was alive today, especially after everything he fought for for them, and I don't see it getting any better, either.

While everyone is racist to some extent, I've always tried to have the stance that race shouldn't matter and that human beings are human beings, and it's a shame that I'll probably never see that as the general consensus in the population during my lifetime.

Postby **Factorial** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:45 am

This has nothing to do with race for me. Lots of hopeless poor people and unruly teenagers who saw an opportunity to cause trouble. It's like the ISIS nuts wanting to have a religious war with the Western world. It may be a religious war to them but it's not to me.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:50 am

...and the same things that have destroyed the black family has also done the same to rural poor whites.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/3 ... williamson

Postby **Silentom** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:54 am

This has nothing to do with race for me. Lots of hopeless poor people and unruly teenagers who saw an opportunity to cause trouble. It's like the ISIS nuts wanting to have a religious war with the Western world. It may be a religious war to them but it's not to me.

Oh, I agree about that completely. I just meant the tone of racism overall that shad was referring to. Rioters are just opportunity seekers like you said, and are reprehensible idiots, IMO.

Postby **count2infinity** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:57 am

This always cracks me up with the looting/rioting thing when it goes down:

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:59 am

lol

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:05 am

Source of the post can anyone give me a tl;dnr on the incident that started this? I think I read something about a traffic stop and the dude ran from police?

Freddie Gray was rushed to a hospital with a spinal cord injury suffered while in police custody. He later died in the hospital. Not much is known how he suffered the injury. He fled an area known for drug dealing and was arrested after police found a knife on him.

Vox.com has a lot of issues with plagiarism, but they do event summaries reasonably well: http://www.vox.com/2015/4/21/8461087/fr ... ore-police

Postby **count2infinity** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:10 am

thanks gypsy

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:15 am

Yvonne Wenger ‏@yvonnewenger 2m2 minutes ago
Toll of riots, in part: 144 vehicle fires, 15 structural fires, 202 arrests

Postby **NAN** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:19 am

My opinion only, just listening to news stations:

Ferguson: "There is too much police presence. This is just going to make people angry and this is why there is rioting. If the city just had minimal police presence and let the people protest peacefully, this would have never happened!"

Baltimore: "There is not enough police presence. What did they think was going to happen????? There was no authority so everyone is rioting! They should have had the national guard and a greater police presence to prevent this."

Ferguson: "There are too many leaks of information from the police side. This is compromising any chances of peace, and this is just making people angry. This needs to stop! No leaks should be occurring."

Baltimore: "People wouldn't be so angry if only the police released or leaked out information on their investigation. If this is going to stop, the police need to release information."

It's just so funny. The mayor of Philly was on, and a CNN commentator asked why the national guard wasn't there to prevent what happened yesterday and it was irresponsible. The mayor responded that if the national guard was there and was arresting and preventing high school kids (which the majority of the rioters were at the time), she'd be all over the city this morning for being bullies and militarizing the community against high school kids. She didn't say anything. Then Chris Comeou (sp?) came in and started a tirade.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:26 am

Well, according to Maryland law the State cannot employ the National Guard without a written request from the local authorities, so that is why it took so long for them to be called in this case. (posted just for information)

Postby **Factorial** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:29 am

From what I saw last night, the local police (city, county) should have been able to handle the situation.

Postby **NAN** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:30 am

Well, according to Maryland law the State cannot employ the National Guard without a written request from the local authorities, so that is why it took so long for them to be called in this case. (posted just for information)

That was part of what the Philly mayor was saying. And what set Chris C off.

He kept saying that the commentators of news stations have no idea how to run a large city and the many rules and regulations that must be followed, as well as verifying information as it comes in, much of it conflicting, and determining the right move to make. Making the wrong move could create even more chaos, and there is so much more information that is known by the leadership that these news channels are just creating unnecessary story lines and pointing blame.

Chris C went off saying that he is brushing off any responsibility of leadership and "how can you say we don't know what goes into these things, I was at Ferguson and now here at Baltimore and saw it first hand".

The mayor of Philly then went on and said that there is blame for the leadership, and they will accept responsibility, but to put the full blame on them and to act like they were negligent is just a joke, and just because he saw the riots doesn't mean he knows how to handle them and run a city.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:36 am

Much agreed.

Postby **MemeMaker** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:39 am

Then Chris Comeou (sp?) came in and started a tirade.

Cuomo is the brother of Andrew Cuomo and Son of Mario Cuomo, both of whom have served as gov of NY

Postby **NAN** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:45 am

Then Chris Comeou (sp?) came in and started a tirade.
Cuomo is the brother of Andrew Cuomo and Son of Mario Cuomo, both of whom have served as gov of NY

Yeah, I know.

I have a love/hate relationship with listening to him. Sometimes he does ask good questions and won't back down, but then most of the time, he is just a plain dodint.