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Let's call a murder a murder

daringfireball.net

181–190 of 236 posts

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had been talking about whether they were physically impeding ICE agents, but now you're framing things as if being " there for a while " would be a problem in and of itself. Meanwhile in America it is every citizen's right, and perhaps even duty, to observe and criticize government agents. To be very clear: stayed stopped on the street [0], observing, filming, and heckling government agents is all Constitutionally…

I never said the U-turn was the only acceptable reason that they could be there, I only mentioned it because it was the most innocent possible reason for Renee to be there that I can think of. In these cases, isn’t it usual for evidence to be kept out of the public eye until after all relevant court trials are done? Also, just to be very clear, I am not saying ICE shot Renee because she was being a nuisance. I am say…

Sorry, I shouldn't have referenced the u-turn as the changed goalpost when my real qualm was the other end of characterizing "being there for a while" as a problem.

> In these cases, isn’t it usual for evidence to be kept out of the public eye until after all relevant court trials are done?

Do you actually think that is what is being done here in any sense, what with the release of the body cam footage and the immediate assertive statements by the government?

> Also, just to be very clear, I am not saying ICE shot Renee because she was being a nuisance. I am saying she got shot because she made an intentional and almost lethal maneuver at the ICE agent with her car.

This is just restating where we started our argument. There are many instances of because here, so the only way to sort through them is to make a clear distinction between what is and what ought:

If we're talking about what is, then yes I think we can all agree that Renee would have been better off if she had not tried to drive away. Renee would have also been better off if she had remained quiet, passively observed, not mouthed off to violent men with guns, and if she still somehow ended up drawing aggro, the moment that started happening she should have driven off before she was anywhere close to boxed in. Even if you are right, you can still be dead.

But if we're talking about what ought, as in, what should a citizen in a free society based around individual liberty and limited government ought to have the right to do, without suffering repercussions (especially high-stakes escalation summary judgement repercussions) from the government? I would say that's a pretty high bar centered on physical aggression. No amount of exercising your first amendment right to criticize the government by heckling its individual agents, nor just generally being a verbal nuisance, justifies a high-stakes escalation by "public servants" (being surrounded and assaulted) whereby one imprudent move results in death.

And as far as our argument here, you haven't really presented anything showing that her actions were in the aggressively violent camp, as opposed to the Constitutionally-protected nuisance camp. I'm open to evidence of violent aggression, but all I have generally seen about this situation consists of naked assertions and innuendo.

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The footage from the killer is now available. Her last words were "we are not mad at you." His first words after she died were "fucking bitch."

[flagged]

An aggressive human apparently Hell-bent on killing her.

Imagine this scenario: You're stopped at a light in a seedy neighborhood at night. A car pulls up behind you. Someone bursts out of the shadows and runs up to your quarter panel, yelling and raising what appears to be a gun at you. Are you just going to sit there waiting to see what happens next? Or are you going to floor it to get out of there, and worry about minimizing collateral damage second?

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It'S PoLiTiCaL

As self-proclaimed hackers who are part of a community whose core values include curiosity and critical thinking, we do ourselves, and the world, a massive disservice by closing our eyes and ears to important information just because it's political in nature. Hacker culture and fascism are antithetical, and we should all be acutely aware when the current regime moves towards violence to squash dissent.

"Hacker culture and fascism are antithetical"

Eh, I think most of the folks here are, whatever else, "temporarily embarrassed venture capitalists". That certainly seems consistent with fascists and with the tenor of much of the discourse I read here.

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you are not claiming perception of intent is enough to claim a life. It is the actual intent that counts. Appeal to mental ineptitude is not a defense of murder. If a person can't distinguish between intention of person to kill others vs escaping when driving in a completely different direction then that person does not have right to posses a weapon which can take human life. Also interesting that you do not a…

I hope you are not claiming perception of intent is enough to claim a life. It is the actual intent that counts. No, I am not claiming that. I explained previously why it looked to me that Renee intended to hit the officer with her car, very hard, and the only reason it was a slight hit was because she lost traction on the ice. [1] And also she did hit the officer, this was even acknowledged in the NYT analysis of th…

> And also she did hit the officer

She made contact with the officer. And that is only because he had to put down his recording phone and take out the gun instead of focussing on stepping out of the way. This framing feels even more egregious when you consider that he casually strolled to take a glance at dead mother and escape the scene.

> only reason it was a slight hit was because she lost traction on the ice.

> only because the icy road caused her wheels to lose grip

It is winter season and all roads are layered with ice. Ice was not a lucky coincidence at the spot she was shot. When you drive in ice for months every year you gain the intuition of vehicle motion. Before being killed, she had reversed in that spot and had a good idea how much gas creates how much traction like any other person driving in snow does. You can not claim her intent to hit based on how fast the wheels are spinning. Grip is immaterial, what matters is how fast the vehicle was actually moving.

> This is confusing to me and I don’t really know what to say about that

> deciding that she is a non-threat in the split second after his first shot

If you can make a decision to step aside and fire subsequent shots from side window instead, your intention is no longer own safety but to kill, in common parlance, murder. A woman driving in different direction, clearly escaping is somehow more of a threat than the masked gunmen surrounding her.

> when she accelerated, she still had her wheels pointing just left of center

Do you drive? If you did you would know that it is not a discrete process of turning and forward motion. It is easier to turn when you are moving. Whatever the direction of wheel at the moment, the rotation towards right while the masked gunman is on left corner makes her intent clear.

> she was looking directly at the officer when she accelerated

Because he is a masked gunman with ability to leave her child motherless which he actually did.

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you stopped to consider how you got to the point that you are defending this. Like, I get sort of working this over in your mind to yourself, but you have gone out of your way to excuse a cop gunning down a mom that just dropped off her kid at school. She had stuffed animals sitting in her dashboard. Her kid is an orphan. You didn't have to do this. You could have just stayed silent. Now you're the guy that is g…

I think this situation is very tragic, and I wish it had not happened. The reason I am taking this stance, is because I think that, unless they are fine with becoming a martyr, people should not go and mess with government officers in the streets. Yeah, I know: “victim blaming”, but there is a difference between officers descending upon a blameless victim vs. you going out looking to make trouble with authority. Even…

Do you recognize the freedom and comforts you enjoy is due to the tiny brave and unhinged section of population willing to take actions against their self-interest? It is reasonable you yourself won't take the risk but discrediting those who do is another low.

What leverage do the citizens have when government can illegally constraint their rights including the right to justice in the courts which you speak of?

How would you challenge these masked gunmen when they have legal immunity conferred by the fascist in charge? How successful is your approach for the sitting president with criminal history and redacted links to Epstein? Are you willfully feigning ignorance of how fascism works?

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lets assume you are right. How do you justify the 2nd and 3rd shot from the side window? Very curious how your mind works.

I haven't seen 2nd and 3rd shots from the side window. What video and what time code?

You claim to have no information about the shots fired yet you assert "I suspect most never watched the video in detail or interpreted it with hindsight."

This kind of asymmetric warfare soliciting unequal effort from others during a discussion is a pattern of troll bots or their human equivalent. I am not willing to engage further if you are unwilling to do a web search.

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you support shooting the ICE driver who made vehicle contact with the protestors when trying to make way? Another scenario, imagine your family member pulling out her parked car when a group of masked gunmen with "POLICE" in very honest-to-god letters printed on their jacket emerge and surround the car. Your family member feels scared as couple of them approach her side door shouting to come out. She finds an o…

You describe a very unfortunate situation, and it’s the reason why impersonating an officer is such a serious crime. In the case at hand, however, there is no mistaken identity. I think for there to be any chance for government officers to do their jobs, and for there to not be any pointless deaths, their authority should never be challenged in the streets, and if they do abuse that authority, the officer should be s…

> In the case at hand, however, there is no mistaken identity.

No mistaken identity of no-name masked gunmen picking and killing random people in neighborhood. Clearly they must be the 1984 government!

> their authority should never be challenged in the streets

Interesting that you chose to emphasize that instead of having limits on their authority of actions like killing citizens in this case.

A stern reprimand will have to do because government would go bankrupt before finish settling for the scale of human rights abuse happening on the daily basis.

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope you are not claiming perception of intent is enough to claim a life. It is the actual intent that counts. Appeal to mental ineptitude is not a defense of murder. If a person can't distinguish between intention of person to kill others vs escaping when driving in a completely different direction then that person does not have right to posses a weapon which can take human life. Also interesting that you do not a…

I hope you are not claiming perception of intent is enough to claim a life. It is the actual intent that counts. No, I am not claiming that. I explained previously why it looked to me that Renee intended to hit the officer with her car, very hard, and the only reason it was a slight hit was because she lost traction on the ice. [1] And also she did hit the officer, this was even acknowledged in the NYT analysis of th…

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Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ICE has routinely done this to protestors, on film. Are you saying those occurrences were attempted murder and ICE should be prosecuted? If it's an offense worthy of a mother being murdered and a child orphaned, extrajudicially on the street, then surely the much lighter sentence of imprisonment for attempted murder by ICE officers would be called for, all things being the same, correct? At the least they should be t…

I have only looked at this incident closely. If in other incidents ICE agents ran down civilians, yes, of course they should be taken to trial.

There was another incident last month in Minneapolis where ICE ran down a citizen with their car [1]. Do you agree that the appropriate response in that situation would be to respond with lethal force in accordance with your previous stances here?

Now, why do you think ICE agents are not being taken to trial? Why do you think the federal government is doing all that they can to protect them? And why are you, specifically, working overtime to give them the benefit of the doubt?

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ICE_Watch/comments/1pjye82/ice_agen...

Re: Let's call a murder a murder

#190
I feel like posting this up top for context [1]. This is an example of someone actually getting hit by a car, from an ICE agent driving with clear intent to harm someone while laughing about it. I would assume that everyone who believes Renee was committing vehicular assault would agree that this is also a case of vehicular assault, and the agent in question should be charged with attempted murder.

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/ICE_Watch/comments/1pjye82/ice_agen...

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