When your crimes get published on a projector screen in Congress, they probably deserve swift prosecution. Pool | Getty

Comments

2

Well, I certainly agree with Bannon that traitors should be imprisoned (at a minimum). He is likely wrong about who the traitors ARE, however. I think he'll meet some of them once we toss his ass into General Population.

4

the law is too sclerotic to "stop" bannon and his ilk. if they were to go to prison it would be for a few months and years down the road.

5

The (terrible) graphs may show that so if is trending down, but our shit is showing a COVID spike.

6

Quit pitting social spending against the public's desire to be safe from crime. The "Abolitionist" position turns popular programs, like the libraries in your example, or greater spending on mental health treatment to take another, and turns them into political kryptonite that no politician interested in re-election will dare to touch.

Many more people support funding these things when it's not presented as a zero sum game with their desire to not be robbed at gunpoint.

7

@6, police don't stop crime, and they don't have a legal obligation to even try. giving them more money isn't going to stop anyone from being "robbed at gunpoint."

8

Not a fan of Musk's antics, but the Intercept's report on how Twitter was manipulated by DoD (and likely didn't perform their due diligence in making sure that the DoD followed through on their promises [spoiler alert: they didn't]) is worth reading. https://theintercept.com/2022/12/20/twitter-dod-us-military-accounts/

10

@8: An argument can be made that libraries DO prevent crime by providing resources to under served populations & helping them connect to social services & manage to do it without also arresting someone.

12

@7: It’s not an issue of giving the cops more money, it’s the “defund” crowd’s constant pitting of cops vs. everything else. The “defund” crowd does this because “defund” by itself lost big-time at the polls, and so they’re tying it to larger public expenditures on other things we want.

As @6 noted, making cops vs. other spending a zero-sum game actually reduces public support for the other spending. King County recently discovered this, when a majority of respondents to a survey of citizens in unincorporated areas within King County rejected funding of police alternatives. These persons “…worried that investment in an alternative response would mean a divestment in the KCSO [King County Sheriff’s Office]…” (https://kingcounty.gov/~/media/elected/executive/constantine/initiatives/reimagine-public-safety/Final_RPS_Report.ashx?la=en)

“Defund” candidate Nikkita Oliver lost in a citywide landslide. “Defund” CM Herbold won’t run for reelection. Abolitionist candidate NTK lost to a Republican. It’s time for the “defund” and abolitionist crowd to admit they’ve lost, and stop trying to impose their unwanted policies by underhanded means.

13

@7: Firefighters don't stop fires, and they don't have a legal obligation to even try. giving them more money isn't going to stop anyone from being "burned to a crisp."

14

@9, got your thumb on the pulse of the communities with high crime do ya? because there are actually studies that show libraries - which aren't just about books - provide a lot of important social services that do help reduce crime

@13 your comparison is ridiculous for a variety of reasons, but I'll just say firefighters also don't constantly ask for more money to do their jobs poorly and cry about persecution when their negligence is questioned by the public

15

@14: Both police and fire fighters are public servants tasked with addressing two major issues cities have faced since forever. But only one of them is unfairly chastised by woke lefty anarchist libs.

While were at it, all police and firefighters and state employees who were fired because of vaccination protests should be hired back with no penalty and back wages reinstated.

17

@7 - Agreed. Cops do nothing at all to lessen crime, so I say we get rid of all 700-800,000 of them in this country. With no cops making criminals out of people (by arresting them), I bet crime goes way, way down.

@15 - Horseshit. The last thing you want in a paramilitary organization (cops, and even firefighters to a certain extent) are people who willfully refuse lawful orders and keep refusing when they've lost in court, no matter the subject of that refusal. Having cops decide for themselves which of their lawful orders are valid and which aren't is a recipe for an undisciplined mob, not a professional LE organization.

I guarantee most of those refusers were self-righteous problem children who were a nightmare to supervise beforehand and will be even more so if given their jobs back. Good riddance.

18

@2 dvs99 : +1 Why wait 'til 2024 when we can resolve it right now?
Trump / Musk, and their little dog, Bannon for General Population 2023!
A big shout out to The Trammps (1976): Burn, baby, burn! It's a GOP Inferno! Burn, baby, burn.....
(come on, you all know the words!)

Orange Turd, E-loon Musk, and the rest of their neofascist nuclear waste can all get cornholed raw through a FlavorStraw.

@10 Lissa: +1 Agreed. Amen to all our public library services, especially in these difficult economic times.

20

@17: Points well taken, but I'm more forgiving than you are. The pandemic was a learning curve and uncharted territory for society on so many levels. I think we can afford to be accommodating instead of vengeful.

22

Might have known that cowardly (and seemingly innumerate) 'thin blue liners" would brigade the slog at the mere mention of priorities other than more cops with more expensive weaponry.

23

@7 Brent Gumbo and @17 Morty(and you'd know about LE, of course): Further proof that it takes an educated, alert and aware community, not just law enforcement alone, to step in, at least try to prevent, and solve crime. No one individual can save the world. What concerns me is a rabidly militant police force equipped with assault weapons provided by the NRA, programmed to kill on sight, no questions asked.
Speaking of questions, I have a few. Is it me, or what IS it with the idea of utilizing robocops (San Fransisco PD, I'm looking at you)? Is it because LE can't recruit enough humans willing to protect and serve? Are we all supposed to relive Terminator2: Judgment Day ? The 21st Century is supposed to be the Year of the T-1000s? Why does a neighborhood cop patrolling a school district need an AR-15?
And the latest models of SUVs in white with black trim, in particular. Is it no coincidence that these vehicles by design resemble storm troopers from Star Wars? Self driving cars? Seriously? That's right out of Maximum Overdrive. And so many drivers and pedestrians are glued to their Dumb* phones (* they're programmed to operate so that we don't have to think, anymore). Who can stop this insanity? Are humans supposed to become obsolete by 2030? Is it any wonder that the lifespan of the average U.S. citizen is plummeting?

@15: raindrop, dear, did you just slip on some ice, fall, and hit your head on a rock? Or have you been hanging out too much lately with Seventiesrocked? Either way, get serious medical help, the both of you!

24

@23: Okay. Griz spewed. I'm taking a red wine break now.

26

@29 - Nope. It's not vengeance, it's consequences. They were given more than plenty of time and opportunity to consider and reconsider their actions. And actions have consequences. Isn't that what traditional Republicans repeatedly say? Or does that only apply when the consequences don't affect their own?

You feel the way you do because of your own feelings about mandated vaccinations. Would you feel the same way if they refused a lawful order over something you felt the other way about? That's the problem with allowing cops to pick and choose which lawful orders they'll abide by, one day your in agreement with their reasoning but the next day you're not.

27

@26: Personally, I have no problem with mandated vaccinations. You keep missing my point. It's about giving people a second chance. If you don't agree, that's a difference of opinion. It's mostly mostly blue collar civilians making up municipal jobs like cops and firefighters, right? So don't always expect the best ethical choices from low paid labor.

Interestingly, I'm the one making the progressive argument here.

28

@27...
Some jobs don't deserve a second chance. You fuck up once, you are done. I'm sure you can come up with examples. If not, I can enlighten you.

Thing is "Defund the Police" was always bad optics. It's more about reallocating resources to where they can be most useful. Ask the ghost of your saint Ronnie Ray-gun about that one.

29

@28: Only about 940 cops in SPD. That pleases many of you. Nevertheless, not many cops to do patrolling or investigations as 911 calls are the priority. That's your reallocating resources at work.

Recruiting is down because so few are applying. Then SCC then takes away funding. God help us when the big one hits.

There's no cops from the cream of the crop to protect you with these numbers. Sorry. But at the least I offer a suggestion on how to increase them.

30

@29 raindrop: That wouldn't please or reassure me if I was still a Seattle resident. When I last checked Seattle has a population of 733,919 (according to statistical data taken in 2021, Google).
A mere 940 remaining SPD cops don't stand a chance on effectively keeping streets safe and preventing or solving crime. If the SPOG pursues the use of armed and lethal robocops instead of hiring new officers, like the SFPD, Seattleites--even the wealthiest of the city's .0000000000001%ers--are screwed.
And we're supposed to be adding self driving cars to the nightmare that is currently I-5 / I-405 / I-90 and elsewhere, not to mention downtown Seattle?


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