'Murica! (244 Viewers)

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
Here is what I'm gathering about the other 3:
Uh oh, blaming the victims alert ahead... :D

Let me ask you guys this, b/c for the most part I know where many of you stand (I think). These 3 guys (two now dead) are all criminals. Don't you think its odd they are part of a movement that wants to disband the police and/or hurt them? Don't you guys get it? They are fighting the system that punished them. Its the BAD GUYS that want the system down. It's the bad guys basically set free...in some cases LITERALLY set free after being arrested because coward political appointees are setting them free.
I think that's a gross generalization. I don't know much at all about those people and cannot make assumptions. They could be ISIS wannabe terrorists. They could be SJWs who have had it with white punks with guns wanting to enforce an apartheid, they could be lazy ACABers who are completely self-interested in their lives of criminal enterprise.

I don't know if they are part of a movement -- save I read the one shooting survivor was a medic for BLM demonstrations. Otherwise there's a skater boi and a dad. They are there in the streets with a kid with a gun. They could be there to loot or riot for all I know and not really give a rat's ass about politics or so-called movements (as if a given movement acts of one mind and one set of shared interests: you can't get liberals to focus on anything, always some animal rights or climate nut job has to chime in). I have no information to effectively make those assumptions the way you seem to be convinced.

And if someone has a criminal record and if that has any bearing, that's for the judicial system to decide. Someone having a criminal record doesn't automatically make them guilty of anything in the future.

Isn't there a video of him telling the police that he just killed someone and they basically told him to move out of the way? That's an odd bit of dialogue if you ask me.

Hey, I just killed someone. "Can you please move off the road"?

lol if the gun was borrowed, that guy will probably have the book thrown at him too.
That was pretty bizarre, IMO. I did see that.

I’d love to see more moderate republicans and democrats follow the example of Justin Amash and become independents. Steer away from the fringe of each party and find some common ground. But instead, those moderates seem to be increasingly marginalized and left voiceless. A moderate third party would be such a blessing. I don’t see it happening, but I’ll keep wishing lol.
To break polarization, I do wonder if a third perspective will make it better or worse. I hope better to break this binary, this-or-that-only loop. The superautomated mail sorting of people and who they are, what they are for, what their motivations are, and what they represent.

Now granted, I think a huge problem with American politics today is that people have become more single-issue voters -- whether that's guns, terrorism, God, gays, Blacks, etc. So fragmenting the political coalition landscape could lead to encouraging more of that, where people hold their noses at the offensive things a candidate does just because the politician supports their pet issue. And just look at Italy for a system where having more political parties isn't necessarily better.

But just two is a false binary.

Yeah. Exactly. It’s unfortunate that people grasp at such incidents to highlight those with the worst endings as a racial discrimination thing. There are definite cases of racism from the police, but that doesn’t mean every single time a black person is shot by the police, it was racism behind it.
It is unfortunate. But do you think it's deliberate on behalf of the people who feel such injustice?

Mentally, as a white dude, I can look at George Floyd or Breonna Taylor or Ahmaud Arbery or Jacob Blake and think, "What does that have to do with you?" I can make that separation. And while all black people aren't the same, are we to presume that every time someone like an Ahmaud Arbery gets killed they take it so personally ... so much that they no longer can concentrate and spend days in tears and grief over it. Are you saying that's faked? That when LeBron says he's so sick of it that he's just reacting that way for show?

There's a lot of people who experience that as real and personal and tragic. Even if you do not.

The fact is what you feel isn't what they feel. As much as I can try to empathize, I have no idea what it's like to be a black person who has carried the weight of an American legacy of racism to make them feel every rap with a billy club, every bullet fired by a cop at an unarmed boy, etc. Their grief is real. They aren't making that sh*t up for show or to gain sympathy points.

And as much as you can point at statistical plot charts, that is a rational approach. A logical argument. That doesn't fly for someone who feels a visceral, emotional reaction laden with a lot of cultural history and generational trauma. Does it make their experience of the same events any more or less correct or appropriate? Is it for us to judge if someone should be allowed to feel the way they do?
 

lgorTudor

Senior Member
Jan 15, 2015
32,951
Uh oh, blaming the victims alert ahead... :D
The skaterboy had Kyle on the ground beating him with his skateboard. The other one was aiming at him with a pistol. These aren't victims by any stretch

Agreed about their criminal background being irrelevant, they didn't deserve to die because they were pedophiles or drug dealers, they deserved to die because they attempted to murder somebody who happened to carry an assault rifle.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
The skaterboy had Kyle on the ground beating him with his skateboard. The other one was aiming at him with a pistol. These aren't victims by any stretch

Agreed about their criminal background being irrelevant, they didn't deserve to die because they were pedophiles or drug dealers, they deserved to die because they attempted to murder somebody who happened to carry an assault rifle.
A dead person is a victim.
 

Hust

Senior Member
Hustini
May 29, 2005
93,703
Uh oh, blaming the victims alert ahead...

I think that's a gross generalization. I don't know much at all about those people and cannot make assumptions. They could be ISIS wannabe terrorists. They could be SJWs who have had it with white punks with guns wanting to enforce an apartheid, they could be lazy ACABers who are completely self-interested in their lives of criminal enterprise.

And if someone has a criminal record and if that has any bearing, that's for the judicial system to decide. Someone having a criminal record doesn't automatically make them guilty of anything in the future.
Blaming for what you can see them doing from the videos & pictures from the night. One guy (Swiss cheese arm) was seen pointing his gun right at the kids face before it all went down. The other guy was seen instigating the armed band of brothers crowed moments before (he is guy that got shot in the head), but at the end, all three tried attacking a kid in retreat trying run down the street probably headed towards police. He fell and was kicked, hit with an blunt object and the same guy that had his gun in his face moments before had it out. I'm sorry, you stop leaving things to chance at that point and go straight into self-defense mode. Those 3 were not running away from him, they were running towards him.

Regardless of their prior history, as I already mentioned, I pointed to their criminal history as the reason they are protesting to begin with. They feel (felt) oppressed by a system they were already caught up in so what better way for a criminal to be one no more than by bringing that system down? I agree about letting the judicial system decide, which is exactly what's going to happen to Mr. 17 Year Old With An Assault Rifle.

- - - Updated - - -

A dead person is a victim.
How so? Until the system determines that persons death was the result of someone else acting in self-defense?
 

Elvin

Senior Member
Nov 25, 2005
36,923
My 2 cents as a neutral.

It doesnt matter if Trump is the cause of all this madness, the fact that all this shit happens on his watch will be enough to vote him out.
 

Hust

Senior Member
Hustini
May 29, 2005
93,703
My 2 cents as a neutral.

It doesnt matter if Trump is the cause of all this madness, the fact that all this shit happens on his watch will be enough to vote him out.
My two cents as someone with an interest here:

This has been simmering for some time, its the nature of this country sadly. It's simply boiling over now. If we elect a President willing to defund police this is only going to get worse. I think most people here see that now. You can't run on a ticket that intends to defund first responders, etc and expect a rose garden on the other side.

- - - Updated - - -

You see, this is what you're left with:

 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
Blaming for what you can see them doing from the videos & pictures from the night. One guy (Swiss cheese arm) was seen pointing his gun right at the kids face before it all went down. The other guy was seen instigating the armed band of brothers crowed moments before (he is guy that got shot in the head), but at the end, all three tried attacking a kid in retreat trying run down the street probably headed towards police. He fell and was kicked, hit with an blunt object and the same guy that had his gun in his face moments before had it out. I'm sorry, you stop leaving things to chance at that point and go straight into self-defense mode. Those 3 were not running away from him, they were running towards him.

Regardless of their prior history, as I already mentioned, I pointed to their criminal history as the reason they are protesting to begin with. They feel (felt) oppressed by a system they were already caught up in so what better way for a criminal to be one no more than by bringing that system down? I agree about letting the judicial system decide, which is exactly what's going to happen to Mr. 17 Year Old With An Assault Rifle.
Actually, I thought the first one was shot in the chest in a parking lot. After which the kid called a friend and said he killed someone and then started running down the street.

How so? Until the system determines that persons death was the result of someone else acting in self-defense?
How so is the kid barely had a scratch and two people are dead and one has a swiss cheese arm.

Maybe this is the policeman talking, but if I swing a skateboard at you that doesn't give you license to kill me with a gun. Americans always be escalatin' ... you bring a skateboard, I bring a gun. You bring a gun, I bring a WMD.
 

Hust

Senior Member
Hustini
May 29, 2005
93,703
Actually, I thought the first one was shot in the chest in a parking lot. After which the kid called a friend and said he killed someone and then started running down the street.



How so is the kid barely had a scratch and two people are dead and one has a swiss cheese arm.

Maybe this is the policeman talking, but if I swing a skateboard at you that doesn't give you license to kill me with a gun.
Sure it does. You don't know if the guy is going to stop, what happens if one swing connects with your head and lights out? Their intention was clear, Greg. It was to hurt the kid, one guy had his gun out I think his intention was obvious. No telling what they will do so why wait and find out if they are actively taking swings at you?

Someone comes at me with something they are using with a weapon, and I'm armed. I fight back. Whether or not they live or die, I'll worry about that afterwards.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. This kid will learn that the hard way. Two people are dead won't be around to learn the moral of the story but they spent time in jail and should have learned to stop being a moron after that.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
Sure it does. You don't know if the guy is going to stop, what happens if one swing connects with your head and lights out? Their intention was clear, Greg. It was to hurt the kid, one guy had his gun out I think his intention was obvious. No telling what they will do so why wait and find out if they are actively taking swings at you?

Someone comes at me with something they are using with a weapon, and I'm armed. I fight back. Whether or not they live or die, I'll worry about that afterwards.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. This kid will learn that the hard way. Two people are dead won't be around to learn the moral of the story but they spent time in jail and should have learned to stop being a moron after that.
You could equally argue the intention was to disarm the guy. The group saw a guy with a gun walking among demonstrators, who just shot and killed someone in a parking lot and called to tell his friend about it. How is that not considered a life or death threat going the other direction? Why doesn't self-defense apply here, when clearly the guy demonstrated he will actually kill someone?

Who knew who else he was going to pick off in the crowd if he wasn't stopped?
 

Hust

Senior Member
Hustini
May 29, 2005
93,703
You could equally argue the intention was to disarm the guy. The group saw a guy with a gun walking among demonstrators, who just shot and killed someone in a parking lot and called to tell his friend about it. How is that not considered a life or death threat going the other direction? Why doesn't self-defense apply here, when clearly the guy demonstrated he will actually kill someone?

Who knew who else he was going to pick off in the crowd if he wasn't stopped?
I don't think its going to be as easy as you're making it sound. I get your points, I guess all that really matters is what the court will see. A couple big lawyers see this as an easy win b/c they are taking his case pro bono.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
I don't think its going to be as easy as you're making it sound. I get your points, I guess all that really matters is what the court will see. A couple big lawyers see this as an easy win b/c they are taking his case pro bono.
Clearly, the situation got escalated to life or death for everyone on that street in that moment. Good cops know that's a situation you de-escalate. Because even if you can take out the bad guys, a) you're not sure which is which in the heat of a situation unfolding, and b) collateral casualties are more than likely. Instead, because we had a 17 year old there instead of responsible cop, we got vigilantism.
 

Hust

Senior Member
Hustini
May 29, 2005
93,703
Clearly, the situation got escalated to life or death for everyone on that street in that moment. Good cops know that's a situation you de-escalate. Because even if you can take out the bad guys, a) you're not sure which is which in the heat of a situation unfolding, and b) collateral casualties are more than likely. Instead, because we had a 17 year old there instead of responsible cop, we got vigilantism.
I still want to know what the cops thought they heard when he literally had his hands up telling them he shot/killed someone. I don't think they realized or took him literally what he was saying. They must have thought whatever commotion down the street was more important (which I guess it was).
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
I still want to know what the cops thought they heard when he literally had his hands up telling them he shot/killed someone. I don't think they realized or took him literally what he was saying. They must have thought whatever commotion down the street was more important (which I guess it was).
I know. It´s almost tragically comedic. "Hey, I think I killed someone back there." "That's nice, kid. As a civilian, please just step out of the road."
 

Enron

Tickle Me
Moderator
Oct 11, 2005
75,659
I still want to know what the cops thought they heard when he literally had his hands up telling them he shot/killed someone. I don't think they realized or took him literally what he was saying. They must have thought whatever commotion down the street was more important (which I guess it was).
he wasn’t the droids they were looking for

basically, he didn’t fit the description of their enemy for the night
 

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