New Jersey prosecutors drop charges over tweeting a cop's photo [Updated]:
Update (~4pm ET): Mid-afternoon on Friday, August 7, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office dropped its cyber harassment charges against all five defendants, the Asbury Park Press reports. These charges stemmed from an incident involving a Tweet attempting to identify a New Jersey police officer. Our original story on the situation appears unchanged below.
A New Jersey man is facing felony charges for a tweet seeking to identify a police officer. Four others are facing felony charges for retweeting the tweet, the Washington Post reports.
[...] The complaint against Sziszak claims that the tweet caused the officer to "fear that harm will come to himself, family, and property."
"As a 20 year old that simply retweeted a tweet to help my friend, I am now at risk of giving up my career, serving time, and having a record," Sziszak wrote.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:52PM (32 children)
Then maybe they shouldn't be hiring fearful little cunts as police officers?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:58PM (15 children)
What non-psychopath wants to be a cop?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:08PM (1 child)
some of us get warm fuzzy feelings from rescuing kittens in trees and shit
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:12PM
That's a thing firefighters do. Cops show up to "prevent a suicide" then shoot your dog then shoot each other. [thefreethoughtproject.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:32PM (12 children)
What non-sociopath wants to be a criminal?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:44PM (3 children)
As if laws align with morality or The Constitution (or whatever higher law and rights enumeration your country has). Cops are mercenaries for an extortion racket. Cops who enforce drug laws and other unconstitutional bs commit sedition every day.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @02:00PM (2 children)
Right up until your ass is being pounded into the ground. Or you get into a traffic accident and the other guy jumps out and starts pounding on your car. Or you get into a high speed collision. Or.....
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @06:48PM (1 child)
what are you talking about, slave? i can defend myself and my family. i don't need some constumed thief to do it for me. you can shove that thin blue line shit up your ass.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @08:01PM
Lol. Nice troll attempt. OK... be my guest and move to someplace that doesn't have police. I hear there are rural areas in Somalia that might be to your taste. Some favelas in Rio might also work for you.
Black lives certainly matter. But no, I don't really care if you can defend yourself. I can defend myself... but I'm also smart enough to accept the help when needed. Unlike you.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @11:59PM
Someone who is poor and desperate.
A homeless kid escaping abuse who is too young to work legally.
Stupid kids who have not matured enough (science says not until 25 years old) to properly weigh the consequences of their actions.
etc.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday August 10 2020, @02:17AM (4 children)
Usually people who are particularly desperate. Drug addiction, less often those who have a sense of being trapped in poverty and crime being an (imagined) escape.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @02:13PM (3 children)
Less often? Many people commit crimes for drugs/drug money, but I think you'll find poverty a far greater motivator than you think. When your choices are working for minimum wage in a factory with horrible conditions, working for less than minimum wage + tips, or selling drugs, selling drugs isn't that bad a choice. If you happen to get a criminal record, it's often the only choice, as nobody hires felons in areas with high unemployment.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday August 10 2020, @02:35PM (2 children)
I get it.
But in general, though, people really don't want to be criminals and it requires a greater level of desperation than you think. Highly addictive drugs make reaching that point of desperation easier. And, as the GGP implied, a good solid third of convicted criminals are sociopaths with poor impulse control. Sociopaths with impulse control become like... investment bankers.
While I'm being totally honest, I think it's probably only about 40-50% of cops who are power hungry sociopaths who see a career that lets them be a bully. Less than that even if you count people who get into policing and don't stay.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @06:52PM (1 child)
selling drugs is not "being a criminal". it's none of the government's business unless there's fraud or force involved. Also, it's not just the $x% who are power mad sociopaths that are the problem. it's the overwhelming % who are just lazy minded idiots who enforce whatever unconstitutional shit the legislature passes because they don't know their duty or the higher law. Many are callous mercenaries who don't really give a shit either way.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Monday August 10 2020, @07:27PM
I agree with everything you've just said and don't quite grasp why it's posted in tone as if I contradicted any of it.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday August 10 2020, @06:52AM
Of course nobody wants to be a criminal. If you offered the Mafia to legalize their actions, I strongly doubt they would disagree (although they might ask for having a legally enforced monopoly on those practices).
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday August 10 2020, @05:48PM
Odds are approximately 100% that you're a criminal, albeit one who has either paid your debts to society or wasn't caught or wasn't punished to the full extent of the law. I mean, have you ever:
- Parked in a metered spot without feeding the meter? Or parked in a spot that said "2 hour parking" for more than 2 hours?
- Driven faster than the speed limit?
- Crossed a street anywhere other than the corner?
- Had a drink before you turned 21 years old?
- Been around someone who was smoking pot, or smoked it yourself?
- Been a bit behind on paying your taxes?
- As a kid, swiped some candy from a store?
- Gotten into a computer system you weren't supposed to have access to?
- Gotten into a building or room you weren't supposed to have access to?
- Worked for a business that (possibly unbeknownst to you) had connections to organized crime?
- Brought back a souvenir from a foreign country without checking all the import restrictions and duties and such?
I can keep going. The point is, there's almost definitely a law that could bust you, and if you're thinking "Well, these are just petty offenses, they aren't the sort of thing anyone would get killed over", then you need to remember that Sandra Bland was arrested and probably killed for failing to use her turn signal properly, and Michael Brown was killed over what would have amounted to a jaywalking charge.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Steve_Baker on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:59PM (3 children)
Said the anonymous coward.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:31PM (2 children)
While true, you don't pay me for my comments, my testimony, or for shooting dogs, children, kittens, and pregnant women.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:35PM (1 child)
What are your fees for these services?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @03:42PM
I can do pan-sized pets and children for free, larger creatures will cost dearly.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Opportunist on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:22PM (11 children)
Or maybe stop putting up a cover for the bad apples?
You know, in my jurisdiction it's illegal to aid a criminal. If the criminal wears a badge, it actually makes it worse, not better.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by number11 on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:38PM (10 children)
And as we know, the expression is "one bad apple spoils the barrel."
Most of the places that have any "bad apples", they're all bad, it's just that some haven't gotten caught yet. True, some are badder than others. The one who shoots people is badder than the one who just doesn't turn him in. But that's a difference in degree, not in kind.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:52PM (4 children)
and i don't think all of this discussion about race or mistreatment of any suspects or any other micromanagement bs is anything, but a clever diversion and way to manipulate people. What we need to be talking about is that these cops don't uphold their oath to protect and defend the BOR and The Constitution and the laws the legislatures pass are unconstitutional. If cops were out respecting the rights of the people these interactions would never happen in the first place, the people would support the cops overwhelmingly, instead of just old financially insulated people, (because they'd only ever be going after actual criminals. crimes are when someone else's rights have been violated. everything else is crime by the state), and the cops would have high morale b/c they'd actually be helping people like many of them joined up wanting to do. The People need to think bigger and do their goddamn duty.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Thexalon on Monday August 10 2020, @06:20PM (3 children)
It's not really a diversion to talk about racism in policing when one of the ongoing problems in policing for decades has been avowed white supremacists joining the police force and/or recruiting police to join them, and those avowed white supremacists using their authority as police to beat, kill, and rape black people. That's not me saying this: The FBI has specifically warned about this [pbs.org]. Or, if you don't trust them, just know that one of my personal friends was a cop for a while, and talked about how there were certain departments that every cop knew were the ones to join if the reason you became a cop was to beat up black people for fun.
The odds of cops upholding the Bill of Rights go up dramatically when the citizen they're talking to is white. As in, right now, you're less likely to be killed by cops if you're a white person who just shot and killed a bunch of people than if you're a black person carrying a legally owned firearm and doing nothing illegal.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @07:32PM (2 children)
My point is that you're never going to solve the problem trying to give cops sensitivity training or by creating politically protected identities. The problem, under the current reality, is that they are given the power to violate anyone's rights. Take that shit away and it gets fairer for everyone and you can start weeding out the totally bad cops a lot easier. Not that i think there's much chance this country can be saved as it is currently formulated.
That last stat you quoted is fucking retarded.
I think trying to fix the USA is probably a lost cause. Whites gave that country away already through ignorance and greed. All of the race related stuff will never be solved until we have ethnostates. Nature split the races/breeds for a reason. Probably to create specialization and at some point the groups didn't get along anymore. Here we are thousands of years later trying to cram them back together again at the behest of supranational financial elite hell bent on destroying what's left of once budding free societies: White societies.
Look at the demographics, and get real, people!
The White Nationalist Manifesto: https://thepiratebay.org/description.php?id=31425122 [thepiratebay.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @08:05PM
Unless you subscribe to the view that the whites never had legal claim to the land in the first place? Just sayin'.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Wednesday August 12 2020, @05:12PM
Ah yes! Nothing screams "utopia" like kicking out all the black and brown people no matter how brilliant or productive, while making plenty of room for every white thief, rapist, drug dealer, and murderer.
And I like how your solution to racist behavior by cops is to say "Well, let's just give them everything they want, and racism will be over, yay!" After all, that plan worked out so well for Neville Chamberlain, right?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday August 10 2020, @12:08AM (3 children)
Not really true, sorry. I'm in a profession where bad apples exist, too. IT-Security. The difference is that we ostracise them. We hang them out to dry in the desert sun and ensure that they don't work in that field anymore.
And lo and behold, in general we have a pretty decent reputation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @01:28AM (2 children)
And the reason that you run them out like the vermin they are is because they will utterly ruin you if you allow the least degree of tolerance. Because even one bad apple will spoil the bunch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @02:49AM
Which is also why we lock up criminals... or used to.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Monday August 10 2020, @11:25AM
Bingo. Security is a matter of trust. You have to trust me with pretty high security clearance in your system for me to do my job. Anyone betraying this trust makes my job harder.
There is a reason why having a police record is certainly not a letter of recommendation as some think it is. It's more a reason why you won't work anymore. Not in this town, not in this country, not on this planet.
(Score: 2) by Aegis on Monday August 10 2020, @02:28PM
ESPECIALLY when you aren't allowed to remove any of them.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @02:59PM (2 children)
If you are afraid of the risks involved in being a police officer then don't become one.
As long as you are being paid by the taxpayers then taxpayers have every right to know who you are. We employ you.
My work requires everyone to wear an identifying badge at all times. Those that refuse can lose their jobs.
The public employs police officers. We have a right to be able to identify them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:57PM
this notion is already enshrined in law and these criminals (da included) already know that. they only stopped their illegal abuse of power b/c of all the press right now. The people need to make every DA in the country be too scared to pull some shit like this. take out a few as soon as they bring the charges and these chicken shit motherfuckers won't be so brave. it's not only your right it's your duty. read the writings of the founders. they weren't fucking around, unlike the NFAC.
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Monday August 10 2020, @01:17PM
I find this posting to be rather humorous, coming from an anonymous coward.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Subsentient on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:06PM (18 children)
It doesn't matter that they dropped the charges, they did what they wanted to do -- instill fear in the public that if they attempt to hold the pigs accountable, they too could end up in prison for a long, long time.
Even if any new similar cases are dropped, it's a massively emotionally draining ordeal to have such charges brought against you at all.
In a just world, whoever levied those charges would be guilty of a felony with a sentence equal to the one they tried to bring upon these five people, along with a hefty fine in punitive damages.
"But that makes their job hard and scary!"
Good. It should. You WANT people who are terrified of doing anything wrong to fill those kinds of jobs.
But no, that won't happen, this is another example of government flexing power over the citizens to intimidate them back into line.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:18PM (4 children)
You overstate your case. The timid shit who won't act because he's afraid won't do you any good when you need help. How about we just hire conscientious people who want to do a good job, then train them to HELP people. You know, turn them into "peace officers" instead of "law enforcment officers". People who want to deescalate situations, rather than blow holes in anything that moves. The kind of person who will patiently wait at a door for 3, 12, or 36 hours, waiting for a suspect to exit the building, instead of tossing flashbombs into cribs so the "bad guy" doesn't get away.
Even if you have only the very best doing the job, mistakes are still going to happen, after all. We just want to get rid of all those cops with shitty motives for doing the job.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:10PM (1 child)
It's difficult in practice getting people who actually feel that way, instead of people who just say what they need to in order to get the job. So, if it causes paralysis when a particularly scaredy prosecutor gets in, so be it.
That's the price you pay for a more just system. Better a guilty man go free than an innocent man be punished.
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday August 09 2020, @08:00PM
A more just system is going require conscription, like jury duty. For sure it's the only way you're going to get an honest person into congress. People that want the job, like the bullies who want to be hall monitors, are not qualified.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:57PM
German police do this - there are some squatters buildings (at least one in Hamburg) where the residents never leave when the cops are anywhere in sight, and the cops have staked them out for months on end... I believe they consider it inhumane to turn off the water to the building, so the situation dragged on for years and years.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @12:19AM
I recently had a conversation with an instructor in the criminal justice program (cop training) at the junior college where I work. We were talking about police violence and other criminal activity by the police. I finally dropped the bomb that, "I believe that all cops are bad because they never try to stop each other from committing violent/criminal acts against the public, and worse, in nearly every video of police violence, all the cops in the area are actively trying to suppress evidence of the illegal act."
He did not get upset. Instead, he told a story of his own personal journey to becoming an instructor at the college instead of a cop. He was a helicopter pilot for LAPD, but he was also required to serve in regular police duties as well. He said it is worse than I probably think-- he decided he would either have to become a monster, or quit. He quit. While I was impressed by both his honesty and his decision to not become part of the criminality, I had to ask him if he ever had reported any of the criminality that he witnessed. He did not answer directly. He started talking about the, "thin blue line." At which point we were interrupted by his students arriving.
At this point, we probably need to start over completely if we want to have a police force that does not view themselves as a marshal force who's role is to control "civilians".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:29PM (11 children)
Why would someone tweet "If anyone knows who this bitch is, throw his info under this tweet"? If there's a problem with the officer you make a formal complaint to his dept, you don't start soliciting for their personal information on social media. I'm afraid, "The purpose of this tweet was to find out the officer's information, to hold him accountable" isn't a defense especially not when there's zero accusation of wrongdoing. The charges here may have been overblown but there's no right to stalk the police or anybody else.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by number11 on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:50PM (2 children)
And we all know how well that works, don't we?
Nobody was getting stalked. Don't you believe in "personal responsibility"? Why wasn't the officer (who, it turns out, was "outed" by whoever made the criminal complaint) wearing a name badge that anyone could read? It shouldn't be necessary to appeal to social media for an ID.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:25PM (1 child)
The officer in this case did nothing wrong, so I'd hope it wouldn't work.
Then why ask for the officer's personal information to be made public and how was the idiot asking somehow exempt from personal responsibility?
If he wasn't, it's precisely because leftist protestors dox them [newsweek.com] and he still had his badge number displayed.
They had a photograph, the department can easily id their own officer for the non-crime of talking to a third party who the protestor claims was "harassing" them. There's no police report for this harassment because political disagreements are not harassment and a police officer engaging in conversation is not usually actionable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @02:27PM
If you're scared to publicly BE a police officer, you don't need to be one.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:02PM (7 children)
another bootlicking dumb ass. his id is public information b/c he works for us, you fucking slave. it doesn't matter if they fucking like it or not or if his house gets firebombed. probably full of piglets and a big fat sow anyways. free bacon for the whole neighborhood!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:18PM (6 children)
> another bootlicking dumb ass. his id is public information b/c he works for us
No, he works for me and against shits like you.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday August 09 2020, @10:07PM (5 children)
That'll be nice for you until the police decide you're not on their team any more won't it?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @10:54PM (4 children)
What "team"? Liberal democracy is built on the rule of law, what is wrong with you?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @12:38AM (2 children)
There is nothing wrong with Parttimezombie. He simply sounds like he is more informed than you.
We do not have rule of law in the United States. If you are rich/powerful, the laws do not apply. If you are a cop, the laws do not apply. If you are poor or black, there many more laws that are enforced against you, and the punishments are harsher.
Qualified Immunity (why cops never get convicted of even the most egregious crimes):
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-immunity-scotus/ [reuters.com]
Policeman's Bill of Rights (one of its features [in California] is that cops are able to review all evidence and statements against them before making their own statement, so they can tailor their lies-- no one else who is arrested is given this privilege):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Enforcement_Officers%27_Bill_of_Rights [wikipedia.org]
Black and other minorities disproportionately given harsh sentences:
https://www.sentencingproject.org/issues/racial-disparity/ [sentencingproject.org]
Rich people do not get jail sentences for driving violations:
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-bail-reform-20170816-story.html [latimes.com]
Rich people do not even get held in jail after committing murder:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/25/california-bail-system-tiffany-li-joseph-warren [theguardian.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @02:55AM (1 child)
"Wealthy people commit less crime and can afford bonds and lawyers when they do". OMG - call the cops!
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday August 10 2020, @07:13AM
A “justice system” where you only get justice if you have enough money is not a justice system.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @01:08AM
"Democracy" and "law" seem to be very elastic terms right now in the US.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday August 10 2020, @01:11PM
Exactly: An arrest is a punishment, one cops can currently dole out completely arbitrarily without any consequences whatsoever. It amounts to cops being able to give somebody a bit of jail time without them being guilty of anything. And, as an added bonus, if the person they're arresting for no reason does anything remotely interpreted as "resisting", that's an additional legitimate criminal charge that even a judge will go along with.
And yes, a judge will come along and dismiss the charges later on, potentially with some very stern remarks to the cop if the charges are really unjustified. And yes, the person who was arrested can try suing the department for false arrest, if they can afford the time and legal fees, but if there's a judgment in their favor it will be the taxpayers paying out, not the cop.
That's assuming, of course, that the person they arrested doesn't end up dead in jail awaiting arraignment with all the surveillance footage mysteriously missing.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Funny) by SomeGuy on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:51PM
Welcome to Twitter!
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @04:54PM (10 children)
If you read the article you'll see there's more to this than meets the eye. The police officer was merely doing his job directing traffic on a downtown street. But he was wearing a mask printed with the words "Blue Lives Matter" - which is his constitutional right under the First Amendment - and this apparently irked an SJW enough that they took his photo and tweeted it with the caption "If anyone knows who this b---h is, throw his info under this tweet so we can throw a Molotov cocktail at his house". Several accomplices retweeted the tweet to other twats adding comments like "Fuck the pigs", "Let's get his wife and children too", and "I'll bring the gasoline". Somehow, the ACLU thinks this was all harmless fun protected by the First Amendment, which apparently only applies when they want it to.
(Score: 2) by Subsentient on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:12PM (1 child)
More unverified claims. Got links to those tweets?
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." -Jiddu Krishnamurti
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @08:54PM
Here is the real tweet:
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2020/08/07/PAPP/e1939fa7-4c24-456f-979b-45909a6efcb8-sandomenico_edit.png?width=540&height=&fit=bounds&auto=webp [gannett-cdn.com]
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:25PM
Now it gets interesting, I hope you screenshotted these tweets because you know the old phrase, pics or didn't happen.
Something you should at any rate do, and report these then to your local authorities because, well, I don't know your laws too well, but as far as I know in any civilized world, threatening to kill someone or inciting others to do so is already a crime.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:32PM (2 children)
I've not seen the Moltov line quoted elsewhere and the prosecutor wouldn't have dropped the charges if it were true. A quote pulled from a garbage-tier Verge article I will not link.
This is not a valid reason to start publicly soliciting for an officers personal information, it's an equivalent of the "he looked at me funny" defense for battery. If this alleged "harassment" were criminal in nature there should be a police report. We already know there isn't. Without having to ascribe non-existent threats, we're already dealing with obvious loonies.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:09PM
you don;'t have to have some kind of "good reason" to want to ID a "public servant". You make your money off extorted tax dollars? i get to know who the fuck you are, you fucking thief.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @02:37PM
As the other AC said, NO REASON is needed to ask for a police officers’ identity. They are legally required to identify themselves.
(Score: 2) by number11 on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:59PM (2 children)
So you're saying police can wear whatever they like as a First Amendment Issue? How about if the mask had said "WHITE SUPREMACY", or "RE-ELECT TRUMP"? I think not.
Second, where did this "so we can throw a Molotov cocktail at his house" thing come from? I think you're lying about that, unless you can provide a cite.
Third, Donnie, aren't you supposed to be sticking to Twitter, or have you gotten blocked again?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 09 2020, @08:55PM (1 child)
Actually, yes, the cop, just like everyone else, has a right to wear pretty much whatever he likes. When I was in uniform, my uniforms were quite personal. I routinely took the gig at personnel inspections for my belt buckle, for instance. It was a regulation belt buckle, circa 1947 - it was no longer regulation in 1976 when I started wearing it. It conformed to standards, but was not actually regulation. No one ever made a real issue of that buckle, they just reminded me at each inspection that it wasn't quite right.
Cop wants to wear a mask bearing the name of his chosen presidential candidate? I don't give a shit. So long as he respects MY RIGHT to wear something similar, for the opposition's candidate.
A white supremacy mask you say? Aren't they all designated as terrorist organizations? Nope - he can't get away with that, and keep his job.
Surely you're not suggesting that cops should be issued one-size-fits-all Kevlar burkhas to ensure that all cops are depersonalized?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dry on Monday August 10 2020, @02:27AM
Many police forces are professional outfits with a uniform to wear, and like most jobs where you have to wear a uniform, you are supposed to wear the uniform.
Also police generally should not be political when on the job, an impartial police force it is part of having a democracy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @05:44AM
Sorry to poke a hole in your narrative https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-em-defends-kkks-right-free-speech [aclu.org]
That is some terrible shit for people to spew on Twitter, but if we play your game conservative racist nazis Republicans are gonna come out a LOT worse than the extremist liberal Democrats. Statistically speaking you assholes have way more actual murderers.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:07PM (6 children)
Leftists < - > The Clan
Judging people by their profession < - > judging people by their color
Going to someones house for struggle sessions < - > burning crosses on their front lawn.
Cancel culture < - > mob justice, running minorities out of town
The democrats just changed who they hate, they didn't get rid of the hate. And they're not done judging people by their color. They do seem to want all white people to be racist with them. And they're burning bibles in the street (and churches and police stations and minority owned businesses and everything else,) so I imagine it's only a matter of time before they're unironically burning crosses again.
I reject it all.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:21PM
You forgot:
Segregation < - > Safe Space
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Sunday August 09 2020, @08:02PM
There is the significant difference that people can usually choose their line of work. Members of minority groups often don't have any choice as to whether they are seen as members of a minority group.
So they aren't equivalent.
One way in which they are similar is that both groups (professions vs. "racial" groups) is that both try to protect their members against attacks from outside, even when they consider the particular individual unworthy.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @09:38PM
Nice line from the Grand Old hateful prick Party. "They're the real racists!" trollololol
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday August 10 2020, @12:09AM (1 child)
It's Klan, not Clan. Unless you're referring to some group that's not obvious to me.
(Score: 2) by dry on Monday August 10 2020, @02:31AM
Perhaps a Scottish Clan? University team around here use the name the Clan for their sports teams, the university is named after a Scot, Simon Fraser, and Clan refers to Scottish clans. It still causes all sorts of issues and last I heard, they were changing their name.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @04:45PM
Interesting how the act of Boycott is made equivalent to Lynching in this analogy.
"I will spend my time and money elsewhere and encourage others to do the same," is not the same as, "I will string you up and watch you hang from this tree."
(Score: 1, Troll) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:22PM (6 children)
Man #1: Don't be stupid and don't post "Anyone knows who this bitch is" attached to a photo of a cop. Because the thinly veiled threat is fucking obvious.
Man #2: Don't be stupid and don't retweet cop-threatening posts from your stupid friends.
Then again, maybe it's pointless to ask people who patronize Tweeter to not be stupid...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Opportunist on Sunday August 09 2020, @05:27PM (4 children)
"Anyone know who this bitch is" is not a threat. An insult, ok, but not a threat. Maybe the intent was to report the person to their superiors because, depending on your jurisdiction, it may be illegal for public servants to make political statements while in office. It sure is possible to phrase this nicer and without the insult, but I fail to see the threat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:12PM
Ignoring that these same weirdos claim "hate crime" and "microaggression" bullshit is merely how an act is perceived by the "victim". Police have good reason to avoid making their personal info public - so it is actually threatening isn't it?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:12PM (1 child)
So much depends on context, and on the internet there is no context, so you can pretty much assume the worst. Combine with current events and it's reasonable for the cop to be afraid that the post represents a potential threat to his personal, and family, safety.
That's what's wrong with the current state of affairs: cops have reasonable basis for fear for their safety.
How did we get here? Mostly by cops standing behind the thin blue line and defending their colleagues who act as judge jury and executioner, killing innocent people with no cause, and all the millions of other little daily transgressions that we all know are overstepping their official authority, but we also know that they're gonna get away with it because that's how things are.
How can we get to somewhere better? Well, it would be really cool if cops would stop the brutality immediately, but I think a more realistic first step is radical transparency, uniforms that include badge numbers writ large across the front and back. If you wanna be a cop, you should also want to be personally accountable for your actions (and also not accidentally mistaken for a power tripping neanderthal wearing the same uniform...)
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:46PM
In this case the context seems pretty straightforward. A member of a group known to have little to no regard for the lives of the general public, and in particular people with skin that's not lily-white, was seen strutting about with a mask that clearly proclaimed that the lives of his clique matter more than those his clique is known to kill unjustly under color of authority. Someone spotted him proclaiming his superiority and asked if anyone recognized him.
It wouldn't be any different from posting a picture of an authority figure in Klan gear or strutting around with a swastika arm band and asking if someone recognized him.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 10 2020, @12:47AM
I work for a school. I'd be sent home for wearing that mask. There is a very strict no political statements on clothing rule (regardless of the statement).
I have a hard time believing that wearing symbols associated with white supremacists is considered OK for cops. Really the guy should not just be sent home, but either given a pink slip as unfit to serve, or at the very least given an extended leave without pay to reflect on his choices.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 09 2020, @07:01PM
That's called leadership - it actually does work.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 09 2020, @06:24PM
What I find interesting is the quote
It should not be a surprise to anyone that your actions online are not exempt from the law and your published words online carry more weight than they do in a casual private conversation. Lucky for him in this case it didn't, but there is no doubt you can get in trouble for retweeting something. You could be charged with harrassment or you could be aiding a criminal act if someone took it physical and you was involved in doxxing.