As a Brazilian, I'm here to tell you: that's how it starts. If this isn't curbed, you'll have a presidential candidate thoroughly linked with them in ~20 years
Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
271–280 of 606 posts
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#272Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having a gun pointed at you is a threat to your life, not “the money of your boss”. Minimum wage or not, their life has value, and they should be to defend it by meeting deadly force with deadly force.
Your scenario starts with a gun pointed at the person. How much training do you believe is required such that an otherwise ordinary person "win" a gunfight when their gun is holstered and the opponent already has them in their aim?
Your theory is starting at a disadvantage you may as well say fuck it and not even the option of firing back?
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#273Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The right to an abortion is not explicitly and specifically in the Constitution, therefore it doesn't exist". (I recognize some of the "issues" with Roe v Wade, tangential/orthogonal to that of access to medical services...) "The right to purchase arms is not explicitly and specifically in the Constitution, but must exist despite that, because how else could you bear arms?" Just like how, for Justice(hah) Thomas, sa…
>Just like how, for Justice(hah) Thomas, same-sex marriage is a state's right/decision, but interracial marriage... isn't. Banning interracial marriage was deemed unconstitutional based on the 14th amendment. The 14th amendment doesn't have any text about same-sex marriage. That's why it's left up to the states. (10th amendment) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loving_v._Virginia https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution…
> The constitution has methods to amend it, that's what a living document means, not that some political party gets to decide what it means on a whim.
What does it have to say about the Supreme Court legislating from the bench?
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#274Earlier quoted context omitted.
ITT: people defending the actions of a corporation owned by a family worth over 230 billion USD. Businesses should expect that society protects them, sure. But those same businesses can't then go and bribe the government to cut worker protection laws, labor laws, can't slash wages and expect that the government covers the costs of labor, etc... If Walmart paid their workers lavishly, gave them huge pensions, didn't e…
And provided inexpensive goods to the masses.
Walmart is able to provide cheap goods because it can strong-arm providers into taking a loss or operating at a break-even point just for the chance to sell at Walmart. It can also provide cheap goods because they pay their workers jack shit and instruct employees to use government subsidized healthcare and insurance.
It's totally possible to provide good pay, healthcare, etc... to employees, still have healthy enough margin % to make Wall Street happy, keep the C-Suite well paid, all while providing a great service at competitive prices to consumers. Maybe not enough to enrich the owners to a quarter trillion dollars in net worth, but plenty enough to keep the ship going. Case in point: CostCo. Whole Foods prior to Amazon was another.
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#275The Minneapolis Police Department aspires to be the Chicago Police Department. Kind of always been a theme for people that follow a police department of an otherwise pretty modestly sized city that should have a lot more integrity.
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#276The Target here in ATX next to downtown hired 2 ex-PMC's in full plate carriers. (APD's call backlog for nonviolent reports runs 36- to 48-hours, so it might as well be never. A private person must then either be equipped to defend themselves, cease venturing in public, or move because the police may be too busy or too unconcerned elsewhere.)
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#277Earlier quoted context omitted.
I thought the US was like the most advanced nation in the world? And businesses are supposed to pay for their own security instead of relying on police? What next? Families of murder victims should cover the cost of the investigation?
In many of the places Wal-Mart has the most problems, both police and private security are sharply limited in what actions they can take against shoplifters. And places like California, Oregon, and Washington won’t prosecute for crimes under about $950. What do you propose Wal-Mart do in these localities?
> And places like California, Oregon, and Washington won’t prosecute for crimes under about $950.
For comparison, in Texas, the misdemeanor limit is at $2,500.
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#278Already, police do this exact shakedown on cities. There are numerous incidents (anecdotal) of US police threatening city officials to reduce enforcement during election cycles, demanding increases in police force budget. Broadly, the US needs to eliminate corruption. There are many broken feedback loops right now from the grand (lobbying and campaign finance) to the minuscule (niche price fixing, bribery, police-ran…
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In civil society running a protection racket isn’t a valid form of protest.
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#279From TFA:
> Eventually, another officer helped schedule off-duty work: Derek Chauvin. He worked security at her club for 17 years.
> …
> “They were gone half the time,” Santamaria said. “They were on my payroll but they were gone.”
>
> She sold the club in 2019. When Santamaria saw Chauvin pinning George Floyd on the pavement in the video that shocked the world, she recognized both, because Floyd worked as a bouncer inside the club in 2019.
>
> El Nuevo Rodeo burned to the ground during the subsequent riots.
Classic, I guess
Re: Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty cops for security
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
May I assume you don't live in the US midwest Bible belt? A friendly officer drove 10 minutes to pull out a slim jim and unlock my car for me. I thanked him. Normal stuff. A lady's car broke down in an intersection. A police car put their lights on to keep us safe while 3 or 4 random people pushed the car to safety. I often call dispatch to report accidents, debris on the road, or anything else that would warrant pol…
Are your local police people who live in the community? That helps in my experience.
Minneapolis Police Department is like 75% suburbs resident (that is, they don't live in the city). They also are "dropouts" or didn't make the bar of getting in the suburban police departments (cushier jobs, more integrity needed), so they are shit cops that go into Minneapolis, fuck up their jobs in the best case, and drive home to the suburbs.
Minneapolis is a very "young" city. It's only now getting actual generations of people that lived and grew up in the city, it used to be a city where all the suburbs people moved into the city. The first run "suburbs" are still actually suburbs, so you drive about five miles and you are in a suburb, while if you're in downtown Chicago, you have to go like 30 miles before you run into suburbs-like existence.