The fact that a 17 year old white boy with an AK-47 with his hands raised can simply walk past police after he killed two peaceful protesters while a black man getting into his car is shot seven times in the back while his children are watching from inside the car should tell every citizen something is very wrong. "Justice will not be s…
The fact that a 17 year old white boy with an AK-47 with his hands raised can simply walk past police after he killed two peaceful protesters while a black man getting into his car is shot seven times in the back while his children are watching from inside the car should tell every citizen something is very wrong. "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected by it are as outraged as those who are." ---Benjamin Franklin
It's time to make military service in Iraq and Afghanistan a disqualifier for service as a police officer. What they learned over there is exactly what we don't need here. What we're seeing is "bringing the war home." Which has always happened in every empire.
Is that why it takes seven bullets to subdue an unarmed suspect? Is part of the problem that the military is selling their out-of-date weapons to our police departments? Is this just another consequence of the defense contractors wanting more profit? This has to be addressed!
You’re absolutely correct. The government is giving police forces equipment that has no place outside of an actual war! And more than ex-military personnel, you might wanna look into the nepotism that runs rampant in the police community. And the training they get from the same people (many of them Israeli) who train Latin American dictator’s police and death squads. This is the ugly, psychotic dark side of the military industrial complex that no administration this side of WW2 has done anything to muzzle. Given half a chance and trump will let them off their leash entirely.
That sir, shows how little you know about what it’s like to serve on the front lines (as opposed to support troops living in relative comfort) of a stupid military conflict. I and everyone I served with at the sharp end, who came home in one piece (and their wits intact despite repeated brain injuries), hated it! They’d served alongside people of every race creed, and political persuasion with most love for one another than you’ll ever know in your overly coddled existence. We saw the effects it had on the civilian population as well. And hated that too! "Bringing the war home"? Of course we did! It’s not as if you can just slough it off like a change of clothing. Real combat veterans are exactly who you want wearing a police uniform. They’re not so easily terrified of unarmed civilians as to shoot them 7 times in the back as they were walking away. They’d also be horrified at treating people differently because of their color after serving alongside them. Of course,some of us didn’t come home right in the head. They need treatment and compassion, and certainly shouldn’t be given a gun and a badge, but to deny the very people who put their life on the line to (as they were mistakenly told) defend our constitution from participating in civic life is akin to racism.
Yeah, that's why they learned to kick down doors and shoot first. Sorry. I was in a war also, and you are full of shit. Thanks for the reminder I never knew so many white male morons in one place at one time as in the military. Lots of good people, too many of your ilk,
To true about the number of morons in the military. After all they’re a reflection of the country they came from. Probably a different war though. I spent my time in the jungle where there weren’t any doors to knock down. Just strangers trying to kill me (probably for good reason but still...) Only a 25 man platoon just trying to stay alive in the middle of a civil war. The assholes got a sand bag party and were medivac’d out the next morning. Our machine gunner (who I owe my life to) came home to get killed for driving while being black, and the 2 other guys on my point team spent a combined 40 years behind bars because they had a hard time adjusting to the hate from the "virtuous" many who got "bone spurs" for example. Did you choose to be in the military? When you came home, did you hear "Thank you for your service? We certainly didn’t. And what exactly did you do in your war?
You should read a book that's very hard to read, being a fellow Vietnam veteran. It took me six months to read it, that was a day spent reading a chapter, and several weeks afterwards steeling myself to read the next. The book is "Kill Everything That Moves," by Nick Turse. A chronology of US war crimes in Vietnam. The book is based on the records of a secret Army unit established at the Pentagon to investigate (and disprove) allegations of war crimes made by returning veterans. Except every allegation they investigated was proven to be real. It's sickening. But then, everyone I know who was there heard of at least one, and everyone wasn't in the same platoon in I Corps. It happened everywhere, it involved people from generals to privates. And the same thing has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the people capable of such things, who come home unindicted, untried, unpunished, free to take up their civilian lives, those are the people who have worried me for the past 50 years as cops. Believe me, I have known of more than a few "problematic cops" who were Vietnam veterans. Dirty wars, fought when you're on the wrong side, dirty everyone of us to one degree or another. Even "good" wars like WW2 had their share. But the US has a terrible record on war crimes when it comes to conflicts with non-Europeans.
Of that I have no doubt. Brutalized people can easily become brutal themselves. And yes, it happens in every war from every side. We found a GI skinned alive and nailed to a tree. And no, that’s no excuse for it. But it didn’t happen to every unit. I spent my time as essentially being in a LRPP unit. We operated platoon separate except for re-log (re-supply for the uninitiated) days. Just being part of the mountain of ordnance we called down from the sky unseen is shameful enough to haunt me for every single day since. Only once did I encounter the "intel" community in the jungle. They started torturing a POW, so I put my M203 to one of their heads to make them stop. My platoon mates had my back and... I won’t go on, but nothing happened to me. We had a great LT and platoon sergeant. If we’d have been taking casualties from the same place day after day? I truthfully don’t know what I’d have done. War is just fucked no matter what or where or when. Many of those who did those things have to live with it forever and suffer from their deeds in countless ways. MPs were always self righteous shitheads and they’re no different here as cops as they were there. I’m far more concerned with the men & women who grew up in a racist family/community and continue to spew their filth from generation to generation.
So basically you were among the 85-90% who retained their decency and honor. That intel guy is the problem I'm talking about. As is well known, the vast majority of cops are not bad people, but their toleration of those who are is what ends with them all being painted with the same broad brush. I remember when running The Oleo Strut outside Fort Hood back in the day, the local theater almost always played war movies and the owner chose them by title. So, amazingly, one day "The Battle of Algiers" showed up. We sent every GI who walked in the coffeehouse down to see the movie, it played for 10 days and made him more money than anything, then he sat down to watch it and...
I went to see it with my wife, sitting in front of a bunch of the GIs. When they got to the scene where the guerilla was being tortured with a telephone (pretty gruesome) And one of the guys behind us leaned over to his buddy and said mater of factly, "Yeah, that's just the way we used to do it."
If you were one of those LRRP patrols who went "across the river," I'd like to find a way to talk with you, because I am getting ready to write a book on that part of the southeast Asian war games.
Great movie! Which river? I mostly spent my time in 3 Corp near Xuan Loc either near or across the Cambodian border. Our maps didn’t show any borders, so who knows where we were exactly? I’m sure that was part of the plan. I’d be happy to help if I can. There hasn’t been a day go by that I’m not haunted by the entire experience. How do I get in touch? I’m also finishing a book myself and talking to other grunts is...IDK...comforting? Certainly a feeling of being not so alone.
"Across the river" refers to Americans being where they weren't "supposed to be" - Cambodia, Laos etc., It specifically refers to the Mekong border with Thailand and Laos. That's going to be the title.
Thomas, Would you say a bit about the difference between being a soldier in a war and being on a police force? I assume soldiers are taught to shoot to kill. What are police taught to do?
One commentator said we should not call this kid "troubled". He has been "radicalized" - not dissimilar to how youth in terrorist organizations become radicalized.
The fact that a 17 year old white boy with an AK-47 with his hands raised can simply walk past police after he killed two peaceful protesters while a black man getting into his car is shot seven times in the back while his children are watching from inside the car should tell every citizen something is very wrong. "Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected by it are as outraged as those who are." ---Benjamin Franklin
It's time to make military service in Iraq and Afghanistan a disqualifier for service as a police officer. What they learned over there is exactly what we don't need here. What we're seeing is "bringing the war home." Which has always happened in every empire.
Is that why it takes seven bullets to subdue an unarmed suspect? Is part of the problem that the military is selling their out-of-date weapons to our police departments? Is this just another consequence of the defense contractors wanting more profit? This has to be addressed!
You’re absolutely correct. The government is giving police forces equipment that has no place outside of an actual war! And more than ex-military personnel, you might wanna look into the nepotism that runs rampant in the police community. And the training they get from the same people (many of them Israeli) who train Latin American dictator’s police and death squads. This is the ugly, psychotic dark side of the military industrial complex that no administration this side of WW2 has done anything to muzzle. Given half a chance and trump will let them off their leash entirely.
That sir, shows how little you know about what it’s like to serve on the front lines (as opposed to support troops living in relative comfort) of a stupid military conflict. I and everyone I served with at the sharp end, who came home in one piece (and their wits intact despite repeated brain injuries), hated it! They’d served alongside people of every race creed, and political persuasion with most love for one another than you’ll ever know in your overly coddled existence. We saw the effects it had on the civilian population as well. And hated that too! "Bringing the war home"? Of course we did! It’s not as if you can just slough it off like a change of clothing. Real combat veterans are exactly who you want wearing a police uniform. They’re not so easily terrified of unarmed civilians as to shoot them 7 times in the back as they were walking away. They’d also be horrified at treating people differently because of their color after serving alongside them. Of course,some of us didn’t come home right in the head. They need treatment and compassion, and certainly shouldn’t be given a gun and a badge, but to deny the very people who put their life on the line to (as they were mistakenly told) defend our constitution from participating in civic life is akin to racism.
Yeah, that's why they learned to kick down doors and shoot first. Sorry. I was in a war also, and you are full of shit. Thanks for the reminder I never knew so many white male morons in one place at one time as in the military. Lots of good people, too many of your ilk,
To true about the number of morons in the military. After all they’re a reflection of the country they came from. Probably a different war though. I spent my time in the jungle where there weren’t any doors to knock down. Just strangers trying to kill me (probably for good reason but still...) Only a 25 man platoon just trying to stay alive in the middle of a civil war. The assholes got a sand bag party and were medivac’d out the next morning. Our machine gunner (who I owe my life to) came home to get killed for driving while being black, and the 2 other guys on my point team spent a combined 40 years behind bars because they had a hard time adjusting to the hate from the "virtuous" many who got "bone spurs" for example. Did you choose to be in the military? When you came home, did you hear "Thank you for your service? We certainly didn’t. And what exactly did you do in your war?
You should read a book that's very hard to read, being a fellow Vietnam veteran. It took me six months to read it, that was a day spent reading a chapter, and several weeks afterwards steeling myself to read the next. The book is "Kill Everything That Moves," by Nick Turse. A chronology of US war crimes in Vietnam. The book is based on the records of a secret Army unit established at the Pentagon to investigate (and disprove) allegations of war crimes made by returning veterans. Except every allegation they investigated was proven to be real. It's sickening. But then, everyone I know who was there heard of at least one, and everyone wasn't in the same platoon in I Corps. It happened everywhere, it involved people from generals to privates. And the same thing has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the people capable of such things, who come home unindicted, untried, unpunished, free to take up their civilian lives, those are the people who have worried me for the past 50 years as cops. Believe me, I have known of more than a few "problematic cops" who were Vietnam veterans. Dirty wars, fought when you're on the wrong side, dirty everyone of us to one degree or another. Even "good" wars like WW2 had their share. But the US has a terrible record on war crimes when it comes to conflicts with non-Europeans.
Of that I have no doubt. Brutalized people can easily become brutal themselves. And yes, it happens in every war from every side. We found a GI skinned alive and nailed to a tree. And no, that’s no excuse for it. But it didn’t happen to every unit. I spent my time as essentially being in a LRPP unit. We operated platoon separate except for re-log (re-supply for the uninitiated) days. Just being part of the mountain of ordnance we called down from the sky unseen is shameful enough to haunt me for every single day since. Only once did I encounter the "intel" community in the jungle. They started torturing a POW, so I put my M203 to one of their heads to make them stop. My platoon mates had my back and... I won’t go on, but nothing happened to me. We had a great LT and platoon sergeant. If we’d have been taking casualties from the same place day after day? I truthfully don’t know what I’d have done. War is just fucked no matter what or where or when. Many of those who did those things have to live with it forever and suffer from their deeds in countless ways. MPs were always self righteous shitheads and they’re no different here as cops as they were there. I’m far more concerned with the men & women who grew up in a racist family/community and continue to spew their filth from generation to generation.
So basically you were among the 85-90% who retained their decency and honor. That intel guy is the problem I'm talking about. As is well known, the vast majority of cops are not bad people, but their toleration of those who are is what ends with them all being painted with the same broad brush. I remember when running The Oleo Strut outside Fort Hood back in the day, the local theater almost always played war movies and the owner chose them by title. So, amazingly, one day "The Battle of Algiers" showed up. We sent every GI who walked in the coffeehouse down to see the movie, it played for 10 days and made him more money than anything, then he sat down to watch it and...
I went to see it with my wife, sitting in front of a bunch of the GIs. When they got to the scene where the guerilla was being tortured with a telephone (pretty gruesome) And one of the guys behind us leaned over to his buddy and said mater of factly, "Yeah, that's just the way we used to do it."
If you were one of those LRRP patrols who went "across the river," I'd like to find a way to talk with you, because I am getting ready to write a book on that part of the southeast Asian war games.
Great movie! Which river? I mostly spent my time in 3 Corp near Xuan Loc either near or across the Cambodian border. Our maps didn’t show any borders, so who knows where we were exactly? I’m sure that was part of the plan. I’d be happy to help if I can. There hasn’t been a day go by that I’m not haunted by the entire experience. How do I get in touch? I’m also finishing a book myself and talking to other grunts is...IDK...comforting? Certainly a feeling of being not so alone.
e-mail: tcinla1311-at-sbcglobal-dot-net
"Across the river" refers to Americans being where they weren't "supposed to be" - Cambodia, Laos etc., It specifically refers to the Mekong border with Thailand and Laos. That's going to be the title.
Thomas, Would you say a bit about the difference between being a soldier in a war and being on a police force? I assume soldiers are taught to shoot to kill. What are police taught to do?
Uphold the law but not be the judge and jury.
I agree. I don't even know what to say anymore to certain friends and family members who aren't bothered by the stark contrast.
Biased policing at its finest. Meanwhile, the Trumpers and their ilk are cheering the kid on.
One commentator said we should not call this kid "troubled". He has been "radicalized" - not dissimilar to how youth in terrorist organizations become radicalized.
And, tRump is a Stochastic Terrorist - the kid merely a product of his rants.