Okay, I’m done with the NYPD:
Hundreds of police officers turned their backs on the New York mayor Bill de Blasio on Saturday as he spoke during the funeral service for Rafael Ramos, one of two New York Police Department officers killed in an ambush shooting in Brooklyn last week.
Thousands of officers gathered outside Christ Tabernacle Church in Queens for the funeral, where speakers included vice-president Joe Biden, New York governor Andrew Cuomo and NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton.
The way I feel about this is that the officers who did this may as well have signed an editorial endorsing the death of Eric Garner as solid police work.
Paul Wellstone wasn’t accosted by police officers and killed. He died in a place crash. But, when people used his memorial service to honor his political legacy, the whole right-wing world howled in protest. I guess politicizing a memorial service isn’t such a bad thing when the honoree is a cop.
And the point is what?
That Eric Garner deserved to die? That the police did nothing wrong? That the parents of black kids have no reason to fear that their child will be killed by cops just like Eric Garner was, with no accountability, and perhaps for an even lesser or non-existent crime?
It strikes me as another right-wing attempt to question the legitimacy of elected Democratic officials. Such a shame we have come to this.
Protest and civil disobedience are not going to work anymore. Too many paramilitary police forces are running around now and they aren’t afraid to express their power in ways hostile to those they don’t like.
It’s just going to suck to be a black person for a long time. I’m very sad about that. America is not a nice country. We’re stuck in a place where we must either accept this oppression or risk unleashing some sort of ugliness for which no one has the stomach.
Land of the free and home of the brave my ass.
Heads need to roll in the NYPD, and De Blasio needs to make that happen. This is a PATCO moment for him, except that the winners in this case would be the people.
they never think that they are wrong. got their phucking azzes on video KILLING A MAN but they are never wrong.
WHATEVER
Make no mistake, most supporters of “law and order” are much more interested in defending order — their order — than in justly enforcing laws. Policing White Privilege is one of the more obvious ways that this plays out.
How can we try to rein-in an out of control CIA and NSA, when the Mayor of the largest city in this country can’t get the respect of the police?
I know their union is currently negotiating a new contract, but there are better ways to score points with the public than this petulant display.
Mayor de Blasio gave his mixed-race son some very sound advice about being careful around police.
As a father, that’s the responsible thing to do.
And the NYPD is upset about that?
If that offends the police, then maybe they should try to kill less young black males with little or no provocation.
Also, too:
What the police all around this country need to do, isn’t turning their backs on the politicians they don’t like.
They should flip the bird to the NRA, FOX “news,” and Reich-Wing talk radio.
In a country and a time when getting a gun is easier than getting registered to vote, you almost can’t blame police officers from being nervous and twitchy when they approach a suspect.
It would be nice, though, if they were nervous and twitchy in an ‘equal opportunity” kind of way.
But the NRA, FOX “news,” and Reich-Wing talk radio, are there 24 X 7 X 365 to keep drumming racial bigotry into the heads of every person – including the police.
I see video’s and photo’s of so many armed white yahoo’s marching around in public with their long-guns and semi-automatic pistols, and all the police do, is calmly approach them and talk to them.
But let a black male not jump or move quick enough, and it’s an instant death sentence.
I grew-up in NYC, and lived there for a while as an adult, and I have always respected police officers – ok, maybe not as much when Rudy was the Fascist Mayor of the city – but I was gone by then.
But with this recent madness, I’ve lost a lot of respect for them.
Yes, petulance is a word I’ve used to describe the NYPD back-turners and Pat Lynch over and over. Such delicate fee fees, and poor display of manners. How can they expect respect? They deserve derision.
If that offends the police, then maybe they should try to kill less young black males with little or no provocation.
Like Akai Gurley, who did nothing wrong. And there likely won’t be accountability for his death. It’s disgusting.
Of course the answer to your question is that we cannot reign in the CIA, NSA, FBI, NYPD etc. You had better just make your peace with it. There isn’t a democratic party politician alive with the guts to take this on. Shame on all of us for letting this happen.
The Sergeants Benevolent and Protective Association of the NYPD got bent out of shape because Mayor de Blasio said that he had to give “the talk” to his son and he shouldn’t have to. Of course, the SBPA, who I gather is the representatives for the non-com officers on the force, is reported to be heading for contract talks next year and reportedly is roughing up the Mayor to extract concessions. That seems the wrong way to go about negotiating, but hey what do I know about NYC politics and especially NYC public union politics.
It just seems to me that if cops have time enough on their hands to choke some guy because maybe he’s selling untaxed cigarettes, then maybe the city could do with a whole lot fewer cops and certainly fewer desk jobs in the NYPD. The total NYPD force right now is about the size of the total military of Belgium. There is an NYPD officer for every 210 people in the city of New York. Discount for shifts and supervisors and technical staff and there is about one officer per 1000 people on a shift. Some downsizing of the upper and middle ranks might be in order just to improve communications between the mayor and the rank-and-file, don’t you think. And that reduction will make it that much easier to improve the compensation of the officers remaining.
I’m from a law enforcement family. My grandfather was a career beat cop. My father worked for police departments for 30 years. I know the culture. As such, beyond the points Boo and commenters have made, the back-turning is offensive and intolerable on another important point.
Cops are a hierarchical organization, similar to the military. The only democratic accountability most local departments have is that the chief is appointed by an elected official, usually a mayor. As with the military having a civilian commander-in-chief, this is done to give departments some measure of civilian accountability.
De Blasio is, in effect, NYPD’s commander-in-chief. As such, the back-turning, beyond a political message, is also an act of gross insubordination – to De Blasio specifically, and more generally to the idea of any civilian control over NYPD at all.
The insubordination cannot be tolerated in an organization like that – can you imagine the outrage if hundreds of military members had turned their backs on Obama or Dubya?
If I were De Blasio I’d fire every single one of the back-turners. And dare the union to sue me. People like that are a cancer in a hierarchical organization like law enforcement.
I find the whole matter by NYPD leaders and unions obscene!
Using the moment of personal grief for a political action is immoral. I watched briefly the ceremony and the surviving family of Rafael Ramos standing lonely as the police commander handed the US flag.
○ California high school bans ‘I Can’t Breathe’ T-shirts for teams at basketball tournament
Didn’t de Blasio use it for political effect also?
○ The NY Police Union’s Vile War with Mayor De Blasio
Didn’t de Blasio use it for political effect also?
How so? Mayors, and elected officals, attend and speak at cop funerals all the time.
BOOMAN, AUTO PLAY IS EVEN MORE ANNOYING THAN ALL CAPS!
QUIDDIT! DAMNIT! QUIDDIT! OR I’LL TAKE MY ATTENTION AND GO HOME!
Flashblock is your friend, if you have Firefox as your browser. Or Google “video autoplay blockers” and pick whatever will work with your system. Problem solved.
imo a clear cut case of how did this mentally unstable person get access to firearms – and how the media twisted it into something else a clear cut case of media failure