Deja vu all over again
In May 2020 George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was pronounced dead after Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, despite Floyd’s repeated protests that he could not breathe. Wide circulation of a bystander’s video of Floyd’s last minutes triggered massive demonstrations in cities throughout the United States and across the globe.
I doubt anybody knows how many black people were murdered by police officers in the USA before George Floyd got choked to death in, ironically, Minneapolis.
But it was one too many for our traditionally white predominant culture. Corporate America bought in and BLM is a well-funded ongoing organization.
Guess what? White guys with a gun permit's lives matter, too.
All us dispossessed souls without a major party lead lives that matter, as well.
Will these pig murders instigate a similar response?
If it does not, we will all suffer for it.
Comments
2025
saw 1,201 people killed by police.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Seems to me
our governments focus is in the wrong place. Here's a list put out by the White House of people killed in the US by illegal immigrants.
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/white-house-posts-list-americans-killed-illega...
Our problem isn't illegal immigrants, it's our own law enforcement.
MAGA
Morons
Are
Governing
America
During my five years practicing the law in Texas,
from 1986 through 1991, I made a living from representing The Fraternal Order of Police. It nea.rly killed me, but it gave me a close up perspective on the career of law enforcement. My clients were mainly from mall town police departments and Sheriff's offices. But I did represent suburban departments near Dallas and Houston. So my most of my experience was more like representing Andy Griffith and Barney Fife than representing Kojak or Police Woman.
Most Texas cops of that era were rarely involved with violence. I had two cases arise in Killeen, an army town adjacent to Fort Hood. One was an infamous mass murder case at Luby's Cafeteria, when a hapless villain drove his pickup truck through the glass wall, then jumped put and started shooting people. This crazy person with a gun was very unlucky as a police training session was underway at a hotel across the street from Luby's. My guy, who was the only Killeen cop who had killed anybody before, twice, in fact, was ignoring protocol as he calmly walked toward the perp, firing way and killing him. His local union president called me as the supercop was taken in for a post shooting interview, A little more than a two-hour drive from Dallas, I got there as he was done with the de-briefing. I introduced myself as his FOP lawyer and he thanked me, but he told me that he had his own lawyer on retainer.
The police establishment in Killeen did not want his past to became part of the national news story about the drive-through murders at Luby's.
That was cool with me.
The other guy was arresting a guy in a domestic violence case who pulled a gun and slowly raised it to shooting level. Once he cocked it, my guy popped his own cap. My clients called it "copicide."
These two isolated small-town cases don't prove anything about our collective fate now, but they suggest to me, at least, that most police work is neither violent nor politically relevant. It makes news when it is.
I am ready to believe that 21st century cops may be driven by paranoia and propaganda ever deeper into piggish behavior. But cops are people too and we need them on our side.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
I, too, have represented a couple of cops.
Successfully, I am happy to say.
The qualifications are lowered from decades ago. Anybody can be one, especially ICE.
Also, the psychological exams are either gone or a joke.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I've been a victim of false arrest and police brutality.
No, the cause was not political. It was a simple auto accident. I was t-boned by an Hispanic ahole with a traffic violation rap sheet a mile long. Naturally, I was freaked out and scared. The yahoo called a few of his cop buddies. Instead of helping me, they called in more cops, totally surrounded and hog-tied me. I was totally chained and then picked up and dumped into the back of a cruiser. I was taken to jail, stripped searched, and thrown into a solitary cell. Bozo who caused the accident? Walked away totally unharmed. The cops down here have cost the city a bundle in losing police brutality, etc. cases. I happen to be a retired, internally disabled white woman. I was unarmed, not drunk, sober as a judge (sic). I had folks in law enforcement tell me it was overkill. Well, no sh1t. Needless to say, I have no use for the fuzz. I avoid them like the plague. Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
I lived in Killeen for a while
I remember the Luby's shooting occurred a few years after we left. I was so glad we hadn't gone back. We had a couple of close friends there, that made a fortune in the collision repair business. Go figure, tens of thousands of soldiers, with nothing in the middle of nowhere to do but drink. Auto accidents $$$$$$$$$.
I remember a tragic case of a Korean American who was murdered there. She owned a night club. I knew her because my roommate dated her. She was murdered a few years later by a Korean guy who apparently was jealous. Glad I wasn't around for that.
I see there was another murder in Killeen a month ago. It's a rough town, that's my impression anyway.
己所不欲，勿施于人。
Killeen is weird
It was the only PD among the 30 or so that I represented in Texas that allowed facial hair. One of the Deputy Chiefs of Police wore a full beard. The locals assured me that was because of Fort Hood --the cops did not want to be confused with GIs.
I also had an interesting rap with the District Attorney for that county. One of my piggier clients was under suspicion for police brutality and a guy that my client arrested complained about being knocked around. The DA told me that "there was too much Starsky and Hutch" going on in that department.
Texas looks great in your rearview mirror.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
I knew a judge on Fort Hood
...that really was a good judge. Unfortunately, he lost his son tragically. His son disappeared. I don't know if it was in Killeen or elsewhere. But that's where I met him. His child was quite young, a child when he disappeared.
己所不欲，勿施于人。