The Shooting Gallery: Police Violence MEGATHREAD

[grumbler]

The sensible response would be to repurpose an existing federal agency to investigate abuses by the police, and not just in the extraordinary circumstances of the ongoing protests, but all the time.

Sadly, this step seems impossible with the current Federal government.

The only possible solution is a political one, with a new government.

Yeah, it is weird that the DEA would be dragged into this.  First of all, they deal only with federal crimes, which the acts attributed to the protesters don't seem to fall into, and second, they often claim to have insufficient resources to pursue their primary job, so it makes no sense for them to seek to take on a new job that only makes the lack of resources issue worse.  You are correct that the solution can only be political, but I hope that part of the cure is to track down the political appointees that are empire-building and make sure that their actions come to public light.  Jumping on your horse so you can go off and join the posse doesn't seem the best move when your barn is burning down.

[crazy canuck]

Here's an article about the ad campaign - it's to drum up interest in a new TV series.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.wired.com/2012/09/byzantium-security-international/amp

So, in short, it could be a real photo. Which was my question.

Thank you, Malthus.

Perfect photo if it is real.

It appears to be a real photo, albeit from eight years ago.

Plato wrote real works about fictional exchanges some years ago, but they still convey a message that is relevant.

[crazy canuck]

Here's an article about the ad campaign - it's to drum up interest in a new TV series.

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.wired.com/2012/09/byzantium-security-international/amp

Pic of the cops smiling in front of the ad is from 2012.

https://mobile.twitter.com/reclaimuc/status/247896374107054080

Careful.  You are using evidence and logic.  If you keep that up, CC will accuse you of "entering Grumbler territory." 

No, Malthus never posts like you.  Time to put you back on ignore for a while.  Good bye.

[merithyn]

The sensible response would be to repurpose an existing federal agency to investigate abuses by the police, and not just in the extraordinary circumstances of the ongoing protests, but all the time.

Sadly, this step seems impossible with the current Federal government.

The only possible solution is a political one, with a new government.

Yeah, it is weird that the DEA would be dragged into this.  First of all, they deal only with federal crimes, which the acts attributed to the protesters don't seem to fall into, and second, they often claim to have insufficient resources to pursue their primary job, so it makes no sense for them to seek to take on a new job that only makes the lack of resources issue worse.  You are correct that the solution can only be political, but I hope that part of the cure is to track down the political appointees that are empire-building and make sure that their actions come to public light.  Jumping on your horse so you can go off and join the posse doesn't seem the best move when your barn is burning down.

Didn't the head of the DEA come out and say, basically, "Nah, fam. Not our beef." ?

[Sheilbh]

Yeah, it is weird that the DEA would be dragged into this.  First of all, they deal only with federal crimes, which the acts attributed to the protesters don't seem to fall into, and second, they often claim to have insufficient resources to pursue their primary job, so it makes no sense for them to seek to take on a new job that only makes the lack of resources issue worse.  You are correct that the solution can only be political, but I hope that part of the cure is to track down the political appointees that are empire-building and make sure that their actions come to public light.  Jumping on your horse so you can go off and join the posse doesn't seem the best move when your barn is burning down.

I mean Barr has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to dispatch riot teams to DC and Miami. I'm not convinced everyone is sticking to their bailiwick.

As the article notes, they've seen this memo they don't know if other ones exist to other Federal law enforcement agencies.

Also I get that Nazi comparisons end arguments on the internet, but I've always thought there's a lot of "working towards Trump" in this administration. And this feels like part of that.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, it is weird that the DEA would be dragged into this.  First of all, they deal only with federal crimes, which the acts attributed to the protesters don't seem to fall into, and second, they often claim to have insufficient resources to pursue their primary job, so it makes no sense for them to seek to take on a new job that only makes the lack of resources issue worse.  You are correct that the solution can only be political, but I hope that part of the cure is to track down the political appointees that are empire-building and make sure that their actions come to public light.  Jumping on your horse so you can go off and join the posse doesn't seem the best move when your barn is burning down.

I mean Barr has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to dispatch riot teams to DC and Miami. I'm not convinced everyone is sticking to their bailiwick.

As the article notes, they've seen this memo they don't know if other ones exist to other Federal law enforcement agencies.

Also I get that Nazi comparisons end arguments on the internet, but I've always thought there's a lot of "working towards Trump" in this administration. And this feels like part of that.

Plus, what exactly is bringing this activity to light going to do.  Everything else that was brought to light did not put an end to the abuses of power this administration engages in.

[grumbler]

No, Malthus never posts like you.  Time to put you back on ignore for a while.  Good bye.

  You've left and come back so many times that this statement lacks all credibility.

[grumbler]

Didn't the head of the DEA come out and say, basically, "Nah, fam. Not our beef." ?

That's possible. I've only seen reports that the DoJ has authorized DEA to step in at the DEA's request.

[Eddie Teach]

Ok, so would Meri or CC please explain what is wrong with cops taking a group photo in front of a bank? 

[crazy canuck]

Ok, so would Meri or CC please explain what is wrong with cops taking a group photo in front of a bank? 

Did you read the advertisement prop?

[grumbler]

Yeah, it is weird that the DEA would be dragged into this.  First of all, they deal only with federal crimes, which the acts attributed to the protesters don't seem to fall into, and second, they often claim to have insufficient resources to pursue their primary job, so it makes no sense for them to seek to take on a new job that only makes the lack of resources issue worse.  You are correct that the solution can only be political, but I hope that part of the cure is to track down the political appointees that are empire-building and make sure that their actions come to public light.  Jumping on your horse so you can go off and join the posse doesn't seem the best move when your barn is burning down.

I mean Barr has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to dispatch riot teams to DC and Miami. I'm not convinced everyone is sticking to their bailiwick.

I certainly never expected Barr to keep out of this.  But the memo I have seen in Vanity fair certainly seems to me to be replying to a request from the DEA to be allowed to participate, which is what I find odd.

Also I get that Nazi comparisons end arguments on the internet, but I've always thought there's a lot of "working towards Trump" in this administration. And this feels like part of that.

That could well be, but you'd think that peoples' sense of self-preservation would start kicking in at some point; getting close to an unpopular president who may only be around for a few more months doesn't seem like a survival strategy, unlike those who were working towards the fuhrer.

But the astonishing thing about the Trump administration, as your earlier article pointed out, is the number of people who had perfectly fine credentials as serious and civic-minded government officials and judges who have cravenly abandoned any pretense of adhering to their principals so that they can closely cleave to a president who is the antithesis of everything they used to believe in.  It's like he has the One Ring or something.  So, maybe you are correct in that they don't care about any consequences except the possibility that Trump will someday pat them on the head and say "good boy!"

[grumbler]

Ok, so would Meri or CC please explain what is wrong with cops taking a group photo in front of a bank? 

I don't think that this photo was taken by one of the cops.  It looks like they are a security detail for something happening in the bank (see officers in the background, facing the other way, and what looks like maybe a TV sound guy.

I think the picture is just serendipitous in that the photographer realized the potential for a photo with a message, and took it.

[Syt]

I thought it was just a funny picture and reposted it. Considering the debate it sparked I wish I hadn't.

[Eddie Teach]

Ok, so would Meri or CC please explain what is wrong with cops taking a group photo in front of a bank? 

Did you read the advertisement prop?

So the only thing wrong with the image is the photoshopped message then? I agree.

[grumbler]

So the only thing wrong with the image is the photoshopped message then? I agree.

  What photo are you talking about?  The one with the cops standing near the "Byzantium Security" ad isn't photoshopped, as the thread has made clear.  Maybe you are talking about some other photo, though, of police posing for something.  In that case, though, I don't see why you want Meri or CC to tell you anything about a photo they have not seen.