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Facebook temporarily disabled the social media accounts of a woman who was posting video of her own standoff negotiations with the police:
Baltimore police shot and killed Korryn Gaines, a 23-year-old black woman, after an hourslong standoff on Monday — during which Facebook and Instagram, at police request, temporarily shut down Gaines' accounts. [...] Police Chief Jim Johnson says Gaines was posting video of the standoff to social media as it was unfolding, which prompted police to request the deactivation of her accounts. Gaines' Facebook page is now reactivated; it does not have any videos visible to the public. On Instagram, one video apparently recorded during the standoff remains. [...] A second video, now deleted, showed a police officer with a gun drawn at Gaines' door. Facebook and Instagram have not responded to NPR's requests for comment.
[...] "Gaines was posting video of the operation as it unfolded. Followers were encouraging her not to comply with negotiators' requests that she surrender peacefully," he said. "Clearly, you can see this was an exigent circumstance where life and serious injury were in jeopardy." After a short period of time, Facebook (which owns Instagram) complied and deactivated the accounts. No data was deleted, Johnson said. Police do not have the authority to directly deactivate a social media account, Johnson and the spokeswoman both said. Facebook decides whether to comply with such requests.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 04 2016, @02:26AM
I'm sorry, can you not do math? You're more likely to wind up dead as a white person getting involved with the cops than as a black person. Significantly more likely in fact. The problem is black people get involved with the cops far more often than white people.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Eristone on Thursday August 04 2016, @02:46AM
Buzzard, you know there is a ton of history why black people get involved with cops far more often than white people.. and some of it boiled down to "we need someone to blame oh hey look there's a black guy grab him". There is also a ton of history of black people having adverse dealings with law enforcement. You have to remember, up until oh say.. 1965 or so, a black person drinking out of the wrong water fountain or sitting at the front of a bus and not moving seats would be a reason for law enforcement to get involved. The underlying attitude has carried on through..hell today. Yes, there are other reasons (social, economic, etc.) but the changes have been slow in coming as far as getting law enforcement to not immediately treat the black guy as a convicted criminal up front instead of the presumed innocence that should be given to every person. There's a Family Guy episode [youtube.com] that more or less points out that attitude. (Yeah, there are a lot of them but I picked just this one for the moment.)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 04 2016, @10:28AM
There may be reasons but there are no excuses.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:40PM
Cuts both ways, no excuses for the men in blue.
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:48PM
Indeed.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday August 04 2016, @02:55AM
Remember, there are AT LEAST two sides to every story.
I've commented in the past that if I were a black guy living in New York City, the 'stop and frisk' bullshit would have me inciting an insurrection.
Incidentally, I've often stated that there are no "good guys" in the Arab/Israeli conflict. That same statement applies here. Maybe the black people involved aren't "good guys", but the cops aren't all "good guys" either. It seems the best of the police are willing to go along to get along, covering up for the bad cops.
WTF are there squads of police in the low income housing projects, patrolling all night long? The first time I witnessed that, was in Memphis. All night long, three cars steadily patrolling, in one gate, in another, shining floodlights, and sometimes being joined by a fourth or fifth car. Maybe three out of four residents were toking up, or shooting up, but SO WHAT?!?! It doesn't justify an occupation force.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:04AM
I'm sorry, can you not do math? You're more likely to wind up dead as a white person getting involved with the cops than as a black person. Significantly more likely in fact. The problem is black people get involved with the cops far more often than white people.
99.9% of my interactions with cops is I get busted every 2-3 years for doing 80 on the freeway. When I see the lights I hit the turn signal, move to the right, stop, roll down my window, put both hands on the steering wheel while I watch the cop approach me, then I'm all yessir nossir.
Got pulled over last November. Cop got my info, went back to his bike, I asked if I could get out of the car (on the freeway!), he said sure. He's calling in my info, I'm checking out the makeshift cup holder he made out of his radar gun holder. We shot the shit, he got his info, I got my ticket, we both drove away.
Result? I paid a lawyer $100 to deal with it. Got the letter last week the case was dismissed (Mitch Mehdy, or Mr Ticket, if you're in San Diego). Had I not hired a lawyer I'd have probably paid $500 in fines/court fees, plus the money and time for traffic school.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:41AM
That's how people who want to live handle situations like that. Most of the cases that the #BLM folks take on are cases where the deceased was engaged in activities that are highly risky. Running away from the police, waving around weapons, resisting arrest and similar activities. It makes it very hard for me to support their cause when they jump to rash judgments about the situation and even after the facts come in they don't change their minds if they're wrong.
Some cases like Tamir Rice we have the video and it's pretty obvious why he was shot. I wouldn't be waving around a toy gun like that in public because I'd expect to be shot. Or if I was really lucky, arrested for disorderly conduct.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:44AM
Tamir Rice was a kid playing with a toy gun when the cops pulled up on him from a few feet away and shot him while he was still thinking "asshole almost hit me, WTF?". Wanna guess how many times this cracker played with a toy gun with friends in a public park without getting shot?
You've got the Cleveland shooting of a couple years ago, where the cops shot 100+ rounds into a car for no good reason, killing 2 black people who apparently didn't floss.
Baton Rouge guy apparently didn't floss.
The guy with the concealed carry permit, evidently pulled over dozens of times before cops realized not flossing was a good enough reason to kill him.
Walter Scott got pulled over for a broken taillight, when the cop realized he didn't floss Walter ran and the cop shot him in the back.
If I was black I don't think I'd be as cavalier about those 80 in a 70 MPH zone infractions.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:49AM
There's a reason why toy guns are legally required to have that nice bright orange tip. I can't recall when exactly those were added, but they were added specifically because people were being shot when the toy was mistaken for the real thing.
The rest of them tend to agree with, but confounding cases where there's reasonable reason for using deadly force with ones where there isn't, just undermines the whole notion that there's a problem.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Snotnose on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:58AM
I'm a bad guy from wherever looking to kill as many people as possible. Think I haven't noticed the big orange thing on the end of toy guns and realized taping an empty toilet paper roll to my mac-9, then painting it orange, wouldn't get me a couple extra seconds?
Those orange tips are worse than useless, they give innocent people a false sense of security.
The solution is to fix the cops' "shoot first, let god sort it out" mentality.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:07AM
Cops were given those rights for a reason. Want to guess what those reasons are? Ever heard of people saying 'they should just be shot', 'we arent doing enough to curb crime against...', 'these men need to be castrated' etc.? You can't have both. Hell, I am sure someone from #BlackLivesMatter is demanding the same thing done to racist cops.
(Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:53AM
So what? Even if he did have a real gun, why did the cops pull up right next to him and immediately shoot him? There was no time to comply. If they're trained--and they supposedly are--pulling up quite close to someone you believe has a gun and startling them probably isn't a good idea.
Cops will simply kill people if there's even the slightest risk of danger, and that is simply insane.
(Score: 4, Informative) by hemocyanin on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:45AM
This is an interesting contrast to how skin color in an open carry state affects police response:
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/racial-profiling-issue-check-difference-black-man-white-man-open-carry-ar-15-legally/ [thefreethoughtproject.com]
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:43PM
I think it is worse than this, I think there are a few psychopaths in every city who actively search for situations where they can murder someone. Hell, some dumbshits join the military so they can kill "some goddamn *insert racial slur here*"
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mhajicek on Thursday August 04 2016, @06:30AM
So did they shoot at the autistic guy because his toy truck didn't have an orange tip?
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @01:43PM
But they shot the black guy lying on his back with his hands in the air.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:09PM
The officer said he was aiming at the autistic guy and missed.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:55PM
So did they shoot at the autistic guy because his toy truck didn't have an orange tip?
Not "They", If you use "they" then "they" can hide behind the blue shield. Put a name to it, and make him accountable.
In this case the trigger happy asshat is Jonathan Aledda. A man whose psych evaluation noted a lack of tolerance: Possible characteristics include judgmental; argumentative; critical; challenging; rigid; stubborn [wsvn.com].
Also notable is the assistant police chief did not want to hire Aledda, but was overruled.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @11:41AM
I can't recall when exactly those were added,
ANOTHER THING that Francis doesn't know! Whew@! Not sure we can all keep up. He must have been doing something suspicious to not recall this.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:16PM
There's a reason why toy guns are legally required to have that nice bright orange tip.
Funny, they weren't required years ago and nobody got shot over the lack of them. The reason they started requiring them is is that too many trigger happy morons are allowed to be cops now.
If the cops are going to act like an occupying army, they shouldn't be surprised when the people repel them like an occupying army.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:23PM
Who knew that cops were dental hygene fascists.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by sjames on Thursday August 04 2016, @05:31AM
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you THE BOILED FROG!
Things have decayed a great deal if death is even a possible outcome of a simple traffic stop. The right and proper penalty for acting like an asshole when a cop pulls you over is you stand no chance of him cutting you some slack. Death is not supposed to be part of this equation at all.
As for Tamir Rice, yes it is. Panicy police bravely blasted a child to death for doing what children in this country have done for over a century. Many even look back fondly and wonder why kids can't just get their cap guns and play cops and robbers or cowboys and indians like we did in our day instead of (insert moral panic here). Apparently the reason is because the cops will blow you away without even a warning if you do that today.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:21AM
Sandra Bland's "crime" was changing lanes without signaling, about as minor a traffic offense as there is, and refusing to put out a cigarette. For that she was hauled off to jail, and found dead the next morning under highly suspicious circumstances. Should any of her actions be considered highly risky activities that might lead to a fatality? Sassing back at the police is punishable with the death penalty?
Many police enjoy the power trips they can get from the work. That sort of person is strongly attracted to police work but is about the last person we should want serving the public in that capacity. They frequently exceed their authority, and escalate situations for no good reason. It's a big problem screening out power trippers before they end up with a uniform and a badge.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Friday August 05 2016, @12:10AM
It's a bigger problem getting them out AFTER they get the cap and badge.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 4, Informative) by butthurt on Thursday August 04 2016, @03:19AM
[...] black people get involved with the cops far more often than white people.
Depending on what you meant by "far" this seems to be supported by official statistics on arrests (see p.23).
http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/aus9010.pdf [bjs.gov]
[...] can you not do math? You're more likely to wind up dead as a white person getting involved with the cops than as a black person.
What are the statistics in which that statement is grounded? According to the document I linked above, whites accounted for 69.5% of all arrests, and blacks 27.9%. However, when Pro Publica analysed homicides by police, they found that whites made up only 44% of those killed. On the face of it, that's at odds with what you say, which would imply more than 69.5% of the dead would be whites—if arrests may be taken as a proxy for "getting involved with the cops".
https://www.propublica.org/article/deadly-force-in-black-and-white [propublica.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 04 2016, @10:24AM
You have to calculate chance of death per arrest rather than chance of death period to have a meaningful statistic rather than one you can lie with.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday August 04 2016, @02:25PM
they found that whites made up only 44% of those killed. On the face of it, that's at odds with what you say, which would imply more than 69.5% of the dead would be whites—if arrests may be taken as a proxy for "getting involved with the cops".
If non-white, non-black demographics made up just 13% overall, that would be 44% white and 43% black.
Not that I believe that; just sayin'.
The data, for instance, is terribly incomplete.
The black boys killed can be disturbingly young. There were 41 teens 14 years or younger reported killed by police from 1980 to 2012 ii. 27 of them were black iii; 8 were white iv; 4 were Hispanic v and 1 was Asian vi.
That's not to say officers weren't killing white people. Indeed, some 44 percent of all those killed by police across the 33 years were white.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Thursday August 04 2016, @07:51PM
If non-white, non-black demographics made up just 13% overall, that would be 44% white and 43% black.
I had gotten 44% from that last paragraph you've quoted. I don't see the 13% figure on the Pro Publica page. Because you wrote "if" I suppose it may be hypothetical. The percentages you mention add up to 100%. I assume you are getting at something of greater significance than that, but your meaning escapes me.
Yes, the data are incomplete. Another study estimated that there are really either about 50% more, or about 100% more (I forget which) police homicides than are reported.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:27PM
Nah, nothing more subtle than that. I was just being pedantic as usual.
This whole progression since Buzzard's post has been kind of a circlejerk of ambiguous figures and unsupported assertions so I'm not really sure where we're going either, heh.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Thursday August 04 2016, @08:42PM
If you change your mind, check lower in the thread where he provided his sources.
/comments.pl?sid=14836&cid=384016#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Thursday August 04 2016, @04:14AM
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 04 2016, @11:29AM
No, that's math of my own from disparate sources. I had to do it myself because nobody else is willing to say it apparently.
Source one and source two combine to tell us black people are roughly ~2.4x as likely to be arrested in any given year. Prison populations tell another story but we're talking arrests here.
Source one and source three combine to tell us that white people are ~1.27x more likely to be shot during an attempted arrest than if they were black.
As always, feel free to check my math.
----SOURCES----
1) https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013/tables/table-43 [fbi.gov]
2) https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ [census.gov]
3) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/07/18/police-shootings-and-race/ [washingtonpost.com]
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by butthurt on Thursday August 04 2016, @12:58PM
Thank you for answering. However, I see you've made a mistake. From source (3), in 2015
whites made up 50 percent of the 987 fatal police shootings, and blacks, 26 percent
From source (1), in 2013
100%*2549655 blacks arrested/9014635 total arrests = 28.3%
100%*6214197 whites arrested/9014635 total arrests = 68.9%
Hmm, 26% is slightly less than 28.3%. However 50% is substantially less than 68.9%. Being either black or white might, I speculate, have a protective effect against police homicide--more markedly so if one is white. Let's quantify it.
50% white * 987 shootings = 494 whites shot dead
26% black * 987 shootings = 257 blacks shot dead
Combining the homicide statistics from 2015 with the arrest statistics from 2013,
257 blacks shot dead/2549655 blacks arrested = 10 deaths/100000 arrests
494 whites shot dead/6214197 whites arrested = 7.9 deaths/100000 arrests
These are in the ratio 10/7.9 = 1.27
That's the same number you arrived at. However, black and white are reversed. Your second statement, corrected:
Source one and source three combine to tell us that w̶h̶i̶t̶e̶ black people are ~1.27x more likely to be shot during an attempted arrest than if they were b̶l̶a̶c̶k̶ white.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday August 04 2016, @02:04PM
It's possible you're correct. My daily window of brain usefulness is almost over though so I'll have to check tomorrow.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday August 04 2016, @11:23PM
It should also be noted that the white population of the US is several times larger than the black population... There is a definite racial factor to quantity of arrests/police contact and shootings.