Comments

1

slog PM?

2

We don't "officially lose over an hour of light".

The limited winter daylight just shifts an hour earlier. Time is a construct.

3

@1 wrote this in the dark.....it's fixed now!

5

"but the deputy chief is apparently "a survivalist and had the proper clothing on him." "

Lots of people like to think they are survivalists until they actually have to, uh, survive

6

While Carmen Best was "in charge" of the SPD, they became nationally famous for provoking a riot over an umbrella, planned an evacuation of a precinct without her knowledge, and violated city ordinances on using chemical weapons on peaceful protesters - including children. She may have had a number of good years in the force; but she failed spectacularly in the final one, and has yet take responsibility for that abject failure.

7

2 & 4 - Obviously it's a casual and common reference to not having that hour of daylight later in the day. No need to be anal about it.

8

Mitt Romney has your hour of light and is going to keep it until spring.

9

@6: The riots of 2020 weren't peaceful. And bringing your kid to one is child abuse.

10

Hopefully the hour of light is also a survivalist with proper clothing on.

12

Best and Durkan helped the police burn their relationship with the community to the ground, then pissed all over the ashes.

While not a Seattle-specific problem, since police nationwide flipped out and attacked countless peaceful protestors on video, it does emphasize how our inverted culture glories violence and failure as long as it's for the lost cause of white trash supremacy.

And like an abusive ex, they blame the victims for making them do it. That's AmeriKKKa in a nutshell.

14

Make sure you don't show up to express your freedom of speech so you can let the bad apples spoil the whole bunch and coopt the message of your protest for soundbites people who would never listen to you anyway can use to uphold the oppressive status quo.

16

@12: Your incessant calling our republic white trash and KKK is abusive.

19

@11 "Since George Floyd was murdered over $1,500 miles away and he was not murdered by a member of the Seattle Police Department there was no logical reason why there were protests in Seattle"

C'mon man. Police brutality is a national issue.

20

17 - Being an early riser, I enjoy the daylight earlier in morning. But the darker evenings make it more stressful to drive so I try to get errands done before 4.

22

@ 16,
The truth is always hard.

This is why far-white voters have embraced the Tr666p/GOPnazis’ ludicrous self-serving lies and freak show con artist candidates, along with collapse and mass death.

As a society, we cannot face reality, which has led to decades of willful national failures.

23

@7: I disagree.

Look at @9, where he casually refers to 2020's BLM protests as "riots". Were they ALL riots? Not the ones I went to. Was there rioting? Yes, but not all the time, and not the majority of the time.

Is it helpful to casually and commonly refer to protests as riots? If you're against questioning the racist structure of American Policing, or the role the SPD played in what happened at CHOP, it is.

I think I'll continue to be anal.

24

@ 21,

There are videos on YouTube in which they interview police officers in Canada, the UK, and Europe—where they are much more effective at lowering crime and avoid killing their own citizens every day—in order to contrast how they work with the US.

What we have is a hostile, violent, militarized occupation. It’s not policing as the rest of the developed world practices it, and all efforts at reform have failed.

The situation is going to remain intolerable until we replace it with a community based harm reduction model that actually works.

26

@22: Society faces reality whether it wants to or not. You just subscribe to one of its many ideologies and ruminate in anger because of an imperfect world, and the imperfect human condition.

27

Audit the Auditors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUbKxVlA_0M

29

Hey, old man, how can you stand to think that way? Did you ever think about it before you made the rules?

30

@23: To me, multiple smashed window equates to a riot. But I understand my threshold for the definition is lower than most. Nevertheless, your point is well taken.

32

@21 -- the consent decree seemed to be working.

Not according to the judge tasked with reviewing the consent decree. Every time the city has petitioned the court to basically say "We are all better now", the court looks at the evidence and says "No, you are not". For example:

May 15, 2019
After reviewing the parties’ briefing and hearing arguments, Judge Robart rules the City has fallen out of full and effective compliance in the area of discipline and accountability.

May 7, 2020
The City files a motion to terminate all independent monitoring of progress on the reforms it agreed were necessary to address the Seattle Police Department’s use of excessive force and practices raising serious concerns about racial bias. The City does not address either the Court’s May 15, 2019 finding that it had fallen out of compliance with the Consent Decree in the areas of discipline and accountability or its May 21, 2019 order specifying the City would have to bring itself back into compliance and then sustain that compliance for two years before the Court would terminate the Consent Decree. The City simply says it “has taken significant steps to address these concerns and will submit a filing responding to them by August 1, 2020.”

Friday, May 29, 2020
Protests of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers begin in Seattle. On the second day, thousands gather in downtown Seattle. Conflicts between police and protestors erupt, with reports of Seattle police officers using pepper spray indiscriminately and vindictively, punching and kneeling on necks of people who had been arrested, and using flashbang grenades.

Monday, June 1, 2020
The Seattle Office of Police Accountability reports receiving 12,000 complaints about the Seattle Police Department’s handling of the weekend demonstrations.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020
The City of Seattle withdraws its motion to terminate independent monitoring of compliance with the Consent Decree.

Keep the timing in mind. A year after a judge ruled that the city lacks discipline and accountability for its cops, the city wanted to terminate all independent monitoring, while ignoring the court's findings. Was that worth protesting? Hell yes.

https://www.aclu-wa.org/pages/timeline-seattle-police-accountability

34

@31 -- "Can you cite some protests that effectively advanced the cause they espoused?"

Seriously? Holy shit, did you sleep through history class? Maybe you should take a remedial class before you comment on a blog like you have any idea what the fuck you are talking about.

Ever heard of the Boston Tea Party? It lead to the formation of the United States of America (heart of it?). Or how about the women's suffrage movement. Or the civil rights movement. Or the Stonewall riots.

Want some examples in other countries? Sure, OK, how about India and South Africa. I mean, holy shit, get a clue.

35

@33. When you saw George Floyd scream for his mother as the life was gradually squeezed from him in front of the entire nation by a soulless cop ignoring everyone who told him he was using excessive force, how did that make you feel? What do you think people were trying to accomplish by protesting that? What they accomplished was making it the national message. Naturally, there was some backlash on account of racial anxiety and dog whistle politics, but just because it lost some popularity with white democrats doesn't make it any less important or real to the people who continue to experience this second class treatment each day. At the very least, that should have made you aware of it. What did you do in response to make a difference?

36

@33 -- Here is your answer: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/06/why-protests-work/613420/

Since I have hard time believing you are smart enough to read that many words, I'll summarize it for you: Yes, protests work, but it often takes a while.

39

A torture experiment funded by a nearly dead overly wealthy dude. I feel like there's currently a very popular show that has that exact premise.

40

I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who’s marched, protested, and voted for LGBT+ rights.

As dire as the situation is for our democracy, this is still the best era ever for those of us on the rainbow.

41

@40 - I'll drink to that.


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