The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[Valmy]

Hey I live in Williamson County 

Oh I watched Outcry recently - that Williamson County?

That is the place! Leander is just a short distance from where I live.

[Valmy]

Hey I live in Williamson County 

Pro tip: remain white.

I used to have my run-ins with the wannabe bad asses in Williamson County when I was younger. Anybody under 30 is a thug needing to be put in line according to them (and that was even more true in the 1990s than today).

But on Christmas Eve 2018 we stopped to take a picture by the local public Christmas tree. There was nobody on the streets and so we just parked our car for a second at the side of the road and rushed out to take a picture of the kids by the tree. Now keep in mind my wife, in her well justified paranoia about the asshole-ish reputation of our local cops, was very hestitant to do so but me and my mother-in-law convinced her it would just be for a second and surely not even the Williamson County Cops are out looking for trouble makers like us late on Christmas Eve.

But no a cop soon pulled up and threw the most melodramatic tantrum about how we were all thugs and criminals and endangering lives because of all the drunk drivers out on Christmas Eve and we had to scurry away. I mean there was nobody on the road and it wasn't even a tow-away zone or anything. It was just not a parking place.

Anyway I am sure he felt like a certified badass after that. It is just the culture of law enforcement out here.

[Valmy]

The elected judges here used to be so notorious as well that there used to be a joke that if you commit a crime in Williamson County make sure you move the evidence into one of the neighboring counties. But this area is now an Austin suburb and not a rural cowboy type area like it used to be so the culture is mellowing a bit, but just a bit.

[Syt]

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/doj-designates-new-york-city-as-an-anarchist-jurisdiction/2627588/

DOJ Designates New York City [+ Seattle and Portland] as an ‘Anarchist Jurisdiction'

The designation comes after a memo from President Trump earlier this month threatening to cut off federal funds for cities

The Justice Department designated NYC, Portland and Seattle as "anarchist jurisdictions" under guidelines issued by President Trump earlier this month

Trump's Sept. 2 memo directs federal agencies to minimize funding for designated cities

Federal grants account for billions of dollars of NYC's annual budget, and the city has threatened to sue over any move to defund it

New York City is one of three places that "have permitted violence and destruction of property to persist and have refused to undertake reasonable measures to counteract criminal activities," leading to its designation as an "anarchist jurisdiction," the Justice Department said Monday.

Rather than idle words, the designation has potential financial consequences. President Trump issued a memo earlier this month directing the DOJ to identify jurisdictions that, in its view, were not enforcing the law appropriately. Designated cities could lose their federal funding.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo minced no words in responding to the DOJ assessment.

“I understand the politics, but when you try to manipulate and distort government agencies to play politics, which is what the Trump administration has done from day one … this is more of the same," Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters. “The president can’t supersede the law and say I’m going to make those funds basically discretionary funds, which is what he would have to do.”

“If they actually do this, we will challenge it legally, and they will lose once again," he added.

Trump's Sept. 2 order gives the director of the Office of Management and Budget 30 days to issue guidance to federal agencies on restricting eligibility for federal grants for the cities on the DOJ list. Such grants make up a huge portion of NYC's already strapped annual budget -- more than $7 billion in fiscal 2021 alone, or 7.5% of the city's projected total revenue.

In justifying its decision, the DOJ cited New York City's rising gun violence, cuts to the NYPD's budget, and moves by various district attorneys not to prosecute charges related to protests earlier this summer. Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington were also hit with the same designation.

“We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance. It is my hope that the cities identified by the Department of Justice today will reverse course and become serious about performing the basic function of government and start protecting their own citizens," Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.

Both the city and the state have previously threatened to sue the federal government over the possible DOJ classification, which Mayor Bill de Blasio reiterated Monday.

“I was out in Elmhurst Queens this morning, I saw peace, tranquility, I saw people going about their business, people excited that it’s the first day of school – I saw anything but anarchy. This is just another one of President Trump’s games,” De Blasio said at his daily news conference. “It’s insulting to the people of New York City and his effort to withhold our funding is unconstitutional.”

[HVC]

Snake Plissken's on the case