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“Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

salon.com

251–260 of 428 posts

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#251
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's shit like this that flies in the face of all those "but most cops are not bad guys" arguments. If an organization fights to protect bad guys, I don't care how much good they do: they are complicit in furthering criminal behavior. And they're in a position of trust, at that! It's an open secret that cops lie to protect other cops. Why do we allow this? Any other person in a special position of trust and responsib…

Cops have no legal obligation to protect you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia

What is a "special relationship" in this context?

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#252
post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have an explanation for why OP is wrong beyond that you find his claim aesthetically displeasing?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error

If someone says "most people are peasants", why would that be a statement about their personality, rather than their situation? To me that's still an objection to something read into it.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cops have no legal obligation to protect you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia

I just read this article and it blew my mind. What type of "special relationship" are they referring to in the decision?

Well that's the joke.

They can construe, manipulate and torque that to mean whatever they want or rather the lack of whatever they want.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#254
post #17

In order to stay safe from the government, 1. Don't buy sparkling water if you're a college student 2. Don't bet with friends because an arbitrary threshold of about $2k warrants your execution 3. Don't tell American citizens that their government abuses its power, or you'll be charged with espionage 4. It's probably a bad idea to bear arms these days, because saying "Officer, I have a weapon in the trunk of my car"…

6. Become a mormon (mormons are highly regarded by the NSA as naturally suited to following orders). 7. Become a cop. A proper one, not just a security guard or something. I wonder how applicable 7 is if you're an immigrant. You might get charged with espionage or something.

My family is Mormon (LDS) and two of my brother's are cops, so we definitely have this covered.

What I can say is that cops seem to get indoctrinated as part of their training about the rule of law and the need to enforce laws "because it's the law" without thought or common sense applied to each situation.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#255
Excellent article but it fails to ask the question why. Why is this happening? Who benefits? Why isn't the people's will being realized politically? Why do the courts no longer protect our Constitutional rights?

There's a critical piece missing in these discussions- the global banking cartel that has corrupted all of our political and social institutions. Until their agenda and activities are included in the scope of our analysis, things will just keep getting worse.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#257
post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's shit like this that flies in the face of all those "but most cops are not bad guys" arguments. If an organization fights to protect bad guys, I don't care how much good they do: they are complicit in furthering criminal behavior. And they're in a position of trust, at that! It's an open secret that cops lie to protect other cops. Why do we allow this? Any other person in a special position of trust and responsib…

Cops have no legal obligation to protect you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columbia

You make it sound much worse than it actually is. The court ruled "a government and its agencies are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any particular individual citizen." If the opposite were held true any person who was ever the victim of a crime could sue the government agency with jurisdiction for damages. Warren does not hold that the police have no duty to protect you if they are witnessing a crime being perpetrated upon you.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The presumption of innocence is not directly enshrined in the constitution, and in the case of some crimes, like rape, has been deliberately and explicitly weakened.

This is a bit off topic for this thread but given that you brought it up: It is hard for me to look at, say, Steubenville[1] (to take just the most publicized of several examples that I've seen in the news lately) and understand how anyone can suggest that accused rapists aren't given a presumption of innocence in our society. The blame heaped on rape victims is often tremendous, even when everyone knows that it happ…

It is hard to look at this case and find any presumption of innocence:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_lacrosse_case

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#259

I knew Sal Culosi. He was a nice enough guy that used to hang out at Fast Eddies Sports Bar in Fairfax, VA. I saw him there often just tending a beer and minding his own business. If you can believe it, he was an optometrist at a Wal-Mart that just measured eyeballs and wrote prescriptions. If he was a bookie (as alleged) then I never saw anything that gave him away. I followed his story in the paper and was surprise…

> In the end, I think the cop got a 3 week suspension. AFAIK, he's still on the FCPD.

And this is why I don't trust cops at all.

Re: “Why did you shoot me? I was reading a book”

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just read this article and it blew my mind. What type of "special relationship" are they referring to in the decision?

Well that's the joke. They can construe, manipulate and torque that to mean whatever they want or rather the lack of whatever they want.

No they can't. It's pretty defined actually. A really simplified way to understand it is: the police have specifically said "we will protect $PERSON from $THREAT." Take for instance a hypothetical domestic violence case. Say the victim reports an incident, and then is later murdered. Because the victim reported the first incident does not imply a special relationship under the law. But, if the police told the victim specifically that they would protect him/her from the alleged perpetrator of the crime and then another crime occurs they would be liable. This is why you very rarely would find an officer promising protection: it creates that special relationship. For more info check out this source: http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseac...
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