Settle the fuck down there Social Justice Warrior...I said nothing personal to you so cool your jets. I am honestly getting tired of taking the sane, reasonable route in everything I do. I just got off facebook responding to one of those "233 blacks, 411 whites" posts that "show" cops don't kill more blacks...and I get flak for not defending cops. I come here, point out that Marah and his minions are full of shit on one point, and I get flak...fuck both polar sides.

With that said let us get into the meat of your tantrum. I never even implied, hinted, suggested or whispered that many police actions are somehow mitigated or diminished because things are better. In fact, that whole distraction you ranted on is irrelevant to the whole meaning of my post. What the point was is this--THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO INCENTIVE FOR A SIDE TO BECOME A BETTER GROUP WHEN THE OTHER SIDE NEVER ACKOWLEGES PROGRESS. This is why Democratic and Republican lawmakers are so polarized. Why cops and blacks are so polarized. Why religions are so polarized.

I mean if we talked to our children like we talk about this, we would seem pretty fucking stupid. "Hey Timmy! I know you improved your D to a C+, but fuck you! That's not good enough you shit head. You miswell be an F student in this house!" Yeah, see how little Timmy might not come around to his dad's way of thinking? I swear, you mention some positivity and people flip the fuck out...like we are selling out to the bad cops or some stupid shit. And this is exactly what Marah's point was and is. His words were clear---NO PROGRESS. (You could argue that he meant only that there has been no progress in the thin blue line but then you would have to be a really belligerent asshole who takes words out of context to fit their meaning...)

Next, you mention all the tax dollars our police force gets...BWAHAHAAHA! Holy fuck, and I am sure the education system is overflowing with money too! Just because the numbers are large doesn't mean the actual tax dollars are significant nor does it mean the money flows to the actual police either. Now this does bring up your very serious observation that I find worrisome as well...the militarization of police...unfortunately our politicians cut sweet deals with companies that make war toys, just like in the military, and basically give away huge percentages of the police "budget." This drastically reduces the actual money police have to do their jobs while lining the politicians' pockets with contributions later.

As far as the shooting one unarmed person per week comment you made that should give YOU some perspective of how utterly stupid the side you are on is. 52 deaths a year in this manner (Say if your hyperbolic statement was actually right instead of being smartass.) 39 thousand deaths happen as a result of car accidents. Do I minimize the deaths? No. Do I put them in perspective? Of course.

I personally think that the no snitch code to crimes, whether on the street or in the force, should be a crime. Nowhere should be safe, period.

This is one I actually feel bad about people higher up in the political food chain being woken up and told....

WHAT?!?
They did WHAT?!?

Oh this is going to be a shitstorm.

Cops need to make their thin blue line about validity and fast.

Believe it or not, I do understand the problem with the "thin blue line" mentality. I'm quite sure I've spoken out about it more than once here on the sift. But I strongly object to painting everyone in any group with a single brush. Hell, I even know some decent Republicans.

Claims that one case, or a hundred cases, prove that there are no good cops are absurd and unsupportable. Just as absurd and unsupportable as those claims made here and there that there are no bad cops.

You do not HAVE to talk to a police officer. You MAY have to show ID depending on the state, but in most cases you do NOT have to show ID unless you are driving or were recently driving a vehicle. At the time he began walking he was not currently being detained for a crime.

If you follow the video link, you will see there is an abundance of information, including legal statements from the state AG that indicate that the officers had NO LEGAL CAUSE to arrest or detain the person filming and were incorrect in charging him with OoJ.

What happened here is that the cop got pissed that someone was filming him, decided he wanted to toss his weight around a bit, and then got further pissed off when his posturing was ignored. He is a cop, damnit, and people should quake in their boots when he is talking to them.

That is the problem with our police officers today. They have this idea that they are special and should be treated as such, when in reality they are simply public servants, OUR servants. We pay their salary to, thoeretically, protect and serve us. We do not pay them so we can serve them and kneel at their beck and call.

There are still officers out there that believe that way, but they are scared or unwilling to out the majority who do not. Until they do, they are no better in the end. For instance, the SGT who showed up on scene could have said that this was incorrect procedure, apologized, and punished the fucker who started it. But no, gotta stick to the thin blue line and back up the fuckup who got pissed about being filmed. Now they all get in trouble, more respect is lost for police, and the county will likely get sued. All because one guy got pissy about being filmed.

A big part of it is the thin blue line bullcrap where cops will stand around watching this shit going down and not report it. Yes, it's probably a minority of bad apples, but then there are the silent witnesses who don't speak out, or the bastards that take revenge on the whistleblowers.

If the law, and the people that enforce it, is to have any meaning, it must be even handed. That is such a joke these days that anyone seriously believing it would be ridiculed as hopelessly naive. If the status quo = everyone understands that there are two sets of rules and the people that should be held to a higher level of responsibility are often given a pass, then the system is broken, and even the good cops are holding up a corrupt institution.

What I can't figure is how the good cops keep going to work, trying to serve the public etc when they see this shit. Talk about morale destroying.

Bob, I'd like to.

Seriously. I'd like to see offsetting videos of cops being good citizens and good protectors and defenders. Because deep down, I want to believe cops are exactly that. I don't want to believe The Thin Blue Line is a collection of corrupt thugs who believe it's their right to act as judge, jury and executioner. I want to think cops are doing the right thing for the right reasons and not riding the wave of a power trip.

Show me the videos of cops being helpful, courteous and kind and I'll upvote them. But at the same time, I will not close my eyes to the videos that show cops doing the exact opposite.

Here is the thing, and it's the reason why I have started to switch my opinion of our law enforcement. The number of stories and videos that show good cops has become dramatically outnumbered by the ones showing despicable human beings wearing a uniform.

Now what am I supposed to think as a rational person when I post a video showing a good cop, not wanting to shoot a murder suspect that might be armed, and immediately after that I get inundated with multiple videos showing officers literally murdering, beating, soliciting, and running over people?

It's equivalent to me coming to your house every day and beating the shit out of you for months, but one time I buy you an ice cream cone instead and tell you to have a great day. Now can you tell me that you are the type of person that is going to say, "Wow, he got me an ice cream and didn't hurt me today!" or are you a thinking creature that is going to say, "Fuck you and your ice cream, you sociopath!"?

It's just not good enough anymore to be that one good cop or even multiple good cops unless you are willing to take a stand and out the bad ones to be criminals. The thin blue line can no longer be held if we are to gain a modicum of trust back towards our law enforcement. No more buddy system, you fuck up and you do time. Until then, I can't trust a cop anymore and I have actual family that does police work.

Via Liberty.me: The status of the police is bound up with the perception of the value of the entire public sector. The police are the “thin blue line,” long perceived as the most essential and irreplaceable function of the state. Now that this perception is under pressure from public opinion over what happened (and is happening) in Ferguson (and many many other places around the country), a shift in intellectual opinion that's been developing for decades is gaining traction.

What’s at stake here if not the very foundation of public order as we know it? If government can’t do this right -- if the police are accomplishing the very opposite of what they claim to accomplish, namely, to "protect and serve" -- if they are, in fact, undermining the public's security rather than providing for it, (and this is widely understood to be the case, time and time again), then we have the making of not only an ideological revolution, but an authentic turning-point in the history of politics.

Security is not the most essential function of the state; it is the most dangerous one, and the very one that we should never concede lest we lose our freedom altogether. The "night watchman" is the biggest threat we face because it is he who holds the gun and he who pulls the trigger should we ever decide to escape from their "protections" and provide for ourselves.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'police, homocide, abuse of power, cowards, thin blue line' to 'police, homicide, abuse of power, cowards, thin blue line' - edited by xxovercastxx

Tags for this video have been changed from 'police, homocide, abuse of power, cowards' to 'police, homocide, abuse of power, cowards, thin blue line' - edited by blankfist

Tags for this video have been changed from 'street, gang, turf, respect, cops, thin blue line, the code of silence' to 'street, gang, turf, respect, cops, thin blue line, the code of silence, sickening' - edited by EndAll

Wow, that's insane. I mean the whole point of stopping a drunk driver is so they don't, you know run into civilians, cause property damage and/or death/injury. Here its like the police decided it was their job to propagate not prevent those things, amazing. I guess that thin blue line is padded with a few civilians in this case.

Very graceful and accessible Glass, similar to the sound of his soundtracks for The Truman Show, Mishima, and others.

You can listen to almost all of his music online at The Glass Engine here. (IE and Java needed: this has crashed Firefox on me twice.) I'd recommend the soundtracks Mishima, The Thin Blue Line, The Truman Show, and Candyman, among others, for Glass newbies. My favourite piece is still track 5 from Glassworks, "Facades", for piano and clarinet.

so beautiful...

*music is the philip glass violin concerto. glass re-used some of the themes from his electronic scores for koyaanisqatsi and thin blue line in the concerto.