America - The Official Thread

[Northstar]

Watching the coverage of the protests it appears one of them has their baby in one of those sling things. How stupid do you have to be to bring a baby to something like this?

 

[Swagger897]

Not getting the whole schpiel with Obama chiming in on this... I guess his leadership clearly shows as superior considering the Michael Brown event?

 

[DesertPenguin]

I don't understand, why didn't the cops stop them when they started these fires? And why aren't they stopping them now?

 

[Liquid]

With each subsequent riot, not just now but in the recent few years, it becomes ever grimmer to think "just another normal day in the United States". It's bad enough being an outsider looking in; currently, the United States' reputation, stock and perception by other countries around the world has never been lower. Certainly not in my lifetime of ~30 years.

Excepting, well... exceptional events like 9/11 or domestic terror attacks, this bubbling brew of unrest, mistrust, polarity, binary exactitude, automatic us vs them tribalism and selfish opportunism that has sprung up over the past few years must be the biggest civil unrest in the US in, what, half a century?

I'm not here to specifically play any blame game but it has me wondering what effect such levels of civil unrest will leave on Trump's legacy and evaluation as a President. And ultimately Obama's as well. Take a look at any President's Wikipedia page and in the last few paragraphs of the opening header before the contents box there's always something about the crucial national events that happened during that tenure whether they were under the President's control or not. And no, I don't mean in a "both World Wars happened under Dem watches so the Dems are bad", childish manner, I mean in a "he presided over a good/bad period in American society" kind of way.

 

[andrea]

 

[Lain]

More fine policework





Maybe more of this instead, yeah?

 

[Chrunch Houston]

I don't understand, why didn't the cops stop them when they started these fires? And why aren't they stopping them now?

This video link is live and still working. There are multiple fires now in LA.

 

[DesertPenguin]

Remember when I said this is gonna turn into the 1992 LA Riots? Was I wrong?

 

[Lain]

Remember when I said this is gonna turn into the 1992 LA Riots? Was I wrong?

Might be underselling it.

With Trump at the helm, this might very well devolve into something akin to civil war. Hopefully that just remains a figment of my imagination though.

Anywho...

 

[McLaren]

Remember when I said this is gonna turn into the 1992 LA Riots? Was I wrong?

This isn’t that bad quite yet. As much as this has spread country wide, the LA riots resulted in far worse conclusions at the time being: 3,700+ buildings damaged/destroyed, 10,000+ arrests, 3,000+ injuries, and 63 deaths. You’re talking about a time where there became a deadly escalation between 2 ethnic groups at 1 point.

We are thankfully, not at the LA Riots’ worst point.

 

[andrea]

Fascism has arrived in full force.

 

[Lain]

Tripling down on police brutality is an absolutely surefire way to quell protests that were instigated as a result of police brutality, it’s certainly not equivalent to poking the bear or anything like that...

Anyway, something more lighthearted (language warning?):

 

[NotThePrez]

Welp, feces have struck the fan at terminal velocity in North Tampa. Reports coming in about looting and fires on Fowler Avenue near the USF campus, as well as shots being fired not too far from the campus. A good buddy of mine works on the west side of the city, so I'm hoping it doesn't spread to him. St. Pete residents have mostly utilized peaceful protests today. Hopefully people and the police can keep their cool.

California Governor Newsom has declared a state of emergency in L.A. County. All of Los Angeles under curfew until 5:30 A.M., and the California National Guard should be arriving in L.A. later tonight. Even though I'm on the other side of the country, it's pretty crazy to see. Also, RIP to some unfortunate person's 997 GT3.

We are thankfully, not at the LA Riots’ worst point.

I was born after the riots took place, and I live on the other side of the country, so my exposure to the event is mostly through reading and various pieces of media.

That being said, I'm very fearful of what may happen in the (hopefully) unlikely event that Derek Chauvin isn't convicted. I'm actually fairly conflicted, because I want him to get a fair trial (while having the proverbial book thrown at him), but I also hope he isn't acquitted, because I imagine the damage will approach a level similar to the LA Riots, but on a significantly larger scale.

Fascism has arrived in full force.

I mean...they did give them fair warning and were pretty clear with their commands.

That being said, the squad leaders(?) word choice was...abysmal, to say the least.

Edit: So Killer Mike is my hero.

Spoiler: NSFW language sprinkled in speech.

 

[mustafur]

I don't think I have seen anything like this before.

 

[Imari]

That being said, I'm very fearful of what may happen in the (hopefully) unlikely event that Derek Chauvin isn't convicted. I'm actually fairly conflicted, because I want him to get a fair trial (while having the proverbial book thrown at him), but I also hope he isn't acquitted, because I imagine the damage will approach a level similar to the LA Riots, but on a significantly larger scale.

Surely a fair trial would lead to a conviction. I mean, there's :censored:ing video of him killing the guy. If you can get away with murder when there's a street full of witnesses and video footage of the killing then I don't see how justice is even possible any more.

 

[McLaren]

That's why others have said they're going for 3rd degree & manslaughter. 3rd degree should be an open & shut case from their point of view.

 

[Northstar]

That's why others have said they're going for 3rd degree & manslaughter. 3rd degree should be an open & shut case from their point of view.

There is precedent for it as well.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Justine_Damond

 

[PeterJB]

Then we'll just have to see if they go on trial and pool the jury from a demographically-convenient district like with Rodney King and OJ instead of where the crime took place.

 

[Famine]

Surely a fair trial would lead to a conviction. I mean, there's :censored:ing video of him killing the guy. If you can get away with murder when there's a street full of witnesses and video footage of the killing then I don't see how justice is even possible any more.

I'm not sure what the distinctions are in the US legal system, but you wouldn't make murder stick in the UK because it lacks the obvious intent to kill or cause grievous bodily harm. The cop obviously kills him, and his actions obviously lead directly to the victim's death, but if the intent was to restrain - regardless of the fact that any reasonable person would know that kneeling on someone's neck for nearly 10 minutes is likely to cause harm - even painfully, on purpose, it doesn't amount to intent to kill/cause GBH...

... at least at this time; the fact that perpetrator and victim knew each other may provide a background that changes this.


Manslaughter is the easier charge to pursue, and it looks open and shut. He performed an act he knew (or rather "a reasonable person" would know; unless he can be proven mentally impaired, it's assumed he would also know as a result) could cause injury and that resulted in someone's death, and the whole thing is on video. If they can't make that stick, then...

 

[Tornado]

3rd degree murder in Minnesota is a higher crime than manslaughter but not quite to the level of needing to prove intent.

 

[HenrySwanson]

It reminds me of the death of Tony Timpa, except instead of a knee to the neck it's a knee on the back (there's a bodycam video on YouTube if you search for it). Even though we have the preliminary autopsy findings, it will be interesting to see the full report as if it is proven that death was due to the combined effect of intoxicants and the stress of physical restraint it will mirror the Timpa death even more.

I don't see it having the same outcome of Timpa's case though (the cops involved in the death of Timpa had their charges chucked out by the DA), and this article argues that a case could be made for a higher charge - namely second degree murder.

 

[Dotini]

Chauvin had a negative personal relationship with Floyd George dating back to their time together at the titty bar. He knew he was killing him when the victim said he couldn't breathe, and kept the pressure on far past the time the victim had lost consciousness. I believe this is first degree murder, and will be so charged. Unless Chauvin commits suicide first - the Epstein solution.

If I were King..............................................on a spike in Minneapolis.

 

[Leo Thorne]

Thugs.

These store owners should be armed.

 

[Dennisch]

3rd world shenanigans.

 

[PzR Slim]

Thugs.

These store owners should be armed.

That is sickening to watch.

 

[Veinz]

It probably won't be long until people starting shooting back, this is some gestapo ****.

 

[Carbonox]

"Let's attack civilians with blunt weapons for justice", said no one with a righteous cause ever.

 

[DesertPenguin]

Thugs.

These store owners should be armed.

All you have to ask is "what is this accomplishing?" to see how 🤬 up this all is. It's infuriating

 

[Swagger897]

More fine policework





Maybe more of this instead, yeah?

Imagine if she would’ve just stayed inside her house and listened...

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

3rd world shenanigans.

We're back to the cavemen era. Cavemen with smartphones