Tough titty.

So no tear gas, but all other chemical agents are okay?

Why didn't the crowd simply have the courtesy to back up five measly feet? That's one foot less than a social distance. Why not show a sign of good faith for the good of the cause and peace and safety in the community?

@3 Why didn't the police simply have the courtesy to let the crowd continue to stand where they were rather than demand they back up five measly feet? That's one less than a social distance. Why not show a sign of good faith for the sake of peace and safety in the community?

Don't worry guys, the woman who wants to make knowingly transmitting HIV a misdemeanor is now on the front lines.

In all solidarity.

Did you guys notice that SPD thought a prayer candle was an "improvised explosive"?

https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/1269474731717087233

Even though the label says "CANDLE". I wonder what violence they'll justify with this now.

Why isn't sawant on the front lines every day? Fuck sawant.

Alex Pedersen live-streamed his bubble bath.

Is all the bootlicking on spec or is there somebody who will pay me to post about how the black guy who got murdered by the police has unpaid parking tickets?

@8:

SPD has provided no evidence that "bricks and bottles" were thrown - the best they could come up with was one novena candle that from the SPD Twitter photo looks more like it was crushed under-foot (https://twitter.com/SeattlePD/status/1269474731717087233/photo/1), and which apparently now qualifies as an "improvised explosive device". How's THAT for degeneracy?

This thread... https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZrZE_WVcAYbR-0?format=jpg

Blah blah blah. Mess with the bull and you'll get the horns. What do all these white folks really have to protest against? Other than poor life choices.
They should be protesting against wall street and the government bailing them out once again at the expense of all the taxpayers. How can we have such a disconnect between the financial markets (equity indexes almost back to pre-covid levels) and somewhere between 30 and 35 million people unemployed.

There does seem to be a contingent in this crowd that is determined to get to the east precinct up the street. Let’s say the police remove the barricades and stand down what are the chances they march past the precinct without further incident? It may be the only way this gets finally resolved. Now that the council is involved I think Best should do just that and whatever happens can be on their shoulders.

Beware of the "it's not TEAR GAS, it's PEPPER SPRAY" idea floating around. Pepper spray is a normalizing term, because we all like spicy food sometimes. Tear Gas is a generic term for a variety of chemical agents, including pepper spray, according to the CDC. Pepper Spray is absolutely horrible - it's used to stop a CHARGING GRIZZLY BEAR. Other forms of "tear gas" are NOT used for charging grizzly bears. Perhaps that image helps position where pepper spray slots in on the 1-10 scale of chemical weapons from flatulence to lethal.

BTW, "Mace" is another generic term that encompasses a variety of proprietary mixtures which often include "pepper spray" and other chemical irritants like CS gas. Here's a good rule of thumb: if it's a weaponized aerosol or gas that causes tearing and respiratory distress, it's reasonable usage to call it "tear gas".

@18 Walk past? No. But I'll bet you $100 the crowd would just bunch up in front of the station and do their chanting and singing and livestreaming there, instead of half a block away behind this arbitrary barrier that seems to be be protecting the SPG's ego more than anything else.

@20: Ego huh. Is that really what you think it comes down to?

Sharks gotta swim, bats gotta fly.

@22 Oh, I don't know. I suppose some of it might also be driven by the presumption that black people expressing dissent are guilty of criminal intent. It would explain a lot, wouldn't it? And then I suppose those who stand with them in dissent must be criminal suspects by association, logically.

What do you think, raindrop? Which participants in a public protest should be presumed guilty of criminal plots and schemes and intentions?

(You too, mistral. What rubric did you use to decide which people to presume guilty here?)

People have a right to protest. The way the police in Seattle and across the country have handled these protests is the problem, not the protests or the people protesting. It is the police that have chosen to double down on violence. It is the police refusing to listen and choosing to insist they have a right to do whatever they want. The police want the people to give up. It's not going to happen. This demand for change is not going to go away.

And what is happening nationwide has repercussions that go beyond law enforcement. This is about the kind of country this is vs. the kind of country it is going to be. White supremacists do not want this country to change (like Trump, they long for "the good old days"), so what is it going to be?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/cia-veterans-who-monitored-crackdowns-abroad-see-troubling-parallels-in-trump-handling-of-protests/2020/06/02/7ab210b8-a4f6-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html

@24: Moral clarity dictates the answer to that question is: "none".

@26 Then surely you'd agree that any morally clear police response to public protest must be dictated by the presumption that the number of participants guilty of criminal intent is "none"?

@28: Well yes, with the caveat that crowd control does not inherently assume a presumption of criminal intent but must accommodate all scenarios for public safety. Examples: crowd control for superstars, presidents, popes, Dan Savage, etc.

@27 Mob or crowd? You mean like the 70,000 people watching a home Huskies game?

Have you paused to wonder why the Riot Santas, the people who've made it their business to assign protestors to the Good Column or the Bad Column, aren't getting the serious consideration now that they grew accustomed to over the last 100-odd protests against police killings of defenseless black people?

You've determined that some of the people in the protest (or rather "mob," to use your preferred term) are guilty of criminal intent. Again, what criteria did you use to decide which people should be presumed guilty?

@32 One side is a cohesive organization with a well-defined command structure and communications apparatus. All of its participants are participating because that is their job, they are getting paid. Their explicit professional obligation is to serve and protect the other side.

The other side is all volunteer, nobody is there to collect a paycheck. It has no command structure, no mechanism by which an order can be given and all participants expected to follow. Participants have a wide variety of differing principles guiding their respective actions. Decisions are made individually, not centrally. There is no predefined or agreed-upon obligation to the other side amongst these participants.

One of these sides is far more capable than the other of altering its behavior quickly to avoid harm or escalation, and moreover has a professional obligation to do so.

Hey Chase, KING5 used your tweet at about 1:07 in this vid:

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/protests/washington-seattle-george-floyd-protests-rallies/281-90c647ce-f0fa-448a-b52e-72090827c2a1

Seattle Police Department continues to use chemical weapons against their residents. Mayor Durkan almost certainly purposely left the door open to pepper spray with her 'tear gas' 30 day ban.

I hope the protests continue until the police are defunded and the mayor is, if not removed from office, at least made politically irrelevant.

General.
Strike.

Soon.

A leader is at the front.

The police were organized to control the oppressed. In this country they came from the slave catchers and later to fight the working class to stop our strikes for example. We had to fight them to get any rights for ourselves. Now they especially work for the super rich and to continue to fill the prisons with poor people and people of color. We must defend ourselves.

The state is violent. It uses force against us. The communities are capable of organizing themselves to solve their own issues. Innocent people are hurt and killed by this system everyday and all the time here and throughout the world.

@18:

The only people I saw yesterday who seemed intent on breaching the barricade (I left about 20 minutes before all this started) were the wacked out speaking-in-tongues Jesus freaks. We literally had to surround one around 5:00 p.m. who seemed hell-bent (pun intended) on getting across the line.

@29:

OTOH, good gun-toting citizens desperately in-need of haircuts are apparently more innocent than unarmed citizens, since the po-po just let them walk around with their substitute dicks in-hand with nary a barricade or gas grenade in-sight, amiright?

Hey law-and-order types, remember when we had a violent fucking revolution to secure all those rights you now apparently assume were just handed to us on a silver platter - or did you sleep all the way through the first few weeks of U.S. History class?

Remember when this angry mob defied lawful orders, looted, and destroyed property?

https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-tea-party

General Strike &
Very Soon.

We, the Peeps
have the Momentum
Opportunity is Knocking.

@46
So what is the significance of 11th and Pine then? The protestors could easily diffuse the entire situation by rallying down in Westlake or the police could diffuse it by withdrawing and not giving the protestors anything to butt up against. It just seems like both sides have made that intersection some symbolic line and it doesn't make any sense. I can only assume the police feel there is a contingent in the crowd that means to damage and/or destroy the east precinct as they did in Minneapolis and the protestors are there because that is where the police are at. Now we're stuck in a political pissing match and neither side is going to withdraw. The only way this changes is if something significant happens, which would be super bad no matter how it plays out, or saner heads prevail. Personally, I would like to see the police withdraw. If the protestors advance on the east precinct and something happens so be it, its just a building. If that does happen though I hope those leading these protest will realize any discussion of disbanding/defunding the police will immediately be over.

@48: Oh yeah, use the very noble but violent and bloody American revolution (or French for that matter) as the standard to give cover for violently setting all the other of society's ills and sins.

Weak sauce.

WHERE
IS
THE
DESIGN
PERMIT
FOR
THIS
WALL?

I was not notified of the hearings for this illegal wall, and I KNOW there is no budget for it.

Peaceful protests never changed shit. Everyone knows that. No peaceful march down the street accomplished anything that a violent mob didn't already win. Why do you think they want us marching peacefully? So we don't break shit and force the powerful to give up a little for the rest of us. Because when the crowd turns to mob, the powerful get uncomfortable. They just want us to shut up and get back to work, you see.

That's whole point here, isn't it? The cops and the mayor and all these assholes on Twitter and here in the comments are trying desperately to tell us, "Just give up and go home. This fight isn't yours. What do you have to complain about? You're acting like a spoiled child. Now knock it off or daddy is going to give you a spanking."

@56 -- Mistrial
discovers First
Mirror. Has
Revelation.

thnx, Gawd!