Gatesgate
It's interesting how Libertarians are suddenly silent when it comes to the matter of Gates' arrest in Cambridge. And by interesting I mean, if it's a white guy getting arrested, we hear, "GET OF MY PROPERTUH, B'FORE AH USE MAH 2nd AMENDMINT!" But if it's an old black guy getting arresting on his own property for being sassy it's, "OBEY MAH AUTHORITUH!!!"
And I agree with Obama, that cop was at minimum stupid.
I said I was gonna post something interesting, like 2 weeks ago... XD I'll try to get to it today.
And I agree with Obama, that cop was at minimum stupid.
I said I was gonna post something interesting, like 2 weeks ago... XD I'll try to get to it today.
posted by Sirkowski at 2:49 PM
16 Comments:
Ask and ye shall receive sir.
Before I say anything else, I will say that I do NOT have the full story about this yet, and I will go look up more after work, to come back and make a proper comment. But the crap I've heard out of the rumor mill so far made it sound more like the cop was just doing his job up to at least a certain point, and the homeowner was being an ass. AND BEFORE ANYONE STARTS BITCHING about what I just said. Like I said, that's what I 'heard.' I'm going to go read about the whole issue first then come back. S'alright? S'alright.
"chicken and watermelon".
Wow, real clever...
Yeah, we're not racist here :eyeroll:
Racist comment by Anders deleted. Don't bother posting that kind of shit again. (he lied too)
BigBigWorld, what happened to freedom of speech? Unless you're using "fighting words", you're allowed to tell cops to eat shit as much as you want. At best they can give you a ticket, but there's no criminal law forbidding you, me or anyone else from insulting a cop's mamma. Which explains why no charges were pressed against Gates. Was the cop racist? Who knows. Was he stupid? Yes.
Radley Balko's right.
It's not like the cops in Mass have a history of doing stupid shit anyway.
I'm surprised folks on the right haven't alleged a conspiracy, you know, Gate's real house being in Kenya and all. XD
If only Gates had shown the cop his birth certificate.
e_e
Okay, sorry for my slow follow up, big storm came through and knocked out power yesterday. Read up on the story on about six news sites. (CBS, CNN, even *Gasp* Fox"News". Note that I must use finger quotes after fox "news"., some others.)
None of them really give a heck of a lot of detail about what happened. Here's what I'm going to base my view off of. Neighbor calls in police for suspected break-in. Police respond to a house that has already been broken into recently. Find a man there. Follows procedure as to checking to make sure he is the homeowner. (Don't care how well dressed he is, always follow procedure.) Man refuses to come outside, but does say he will go get I.D. cop follows him inside. All hell breaks loose and this is where I had trouble finding details. (link me if you find a transcript of conversation that occurred there.)
Up to this point, the cop was doing his duty. Hey, you never know if someones reaching back into the house to fetch a weapon, or scoot out the back. I am going to assume, (which I hate to do) that Mr. Gates said some offensive things first, and that the cop up to this point was just doing his job. Calling backup isn't all that unusual. Saw four cop cars respond to an upset hotel patron the other week on a trip. (Since this is all about race, I'll go ahead and mention he was white, and had his wife and two brats with him. He was being an ASS.)
So the backup that Officer Crowley called wasn't out of line.
But as long as the guy did show his idea, and didn't outright refuse to cooperate with the officer, he should have just ignored it and went on his way, instead of arresting the guy.
So, cop's bad on that.
But, the president stepping in to make a national comment? And bring race into the picture? That was fucking moronic. Or at least selfish. This situation happens ALL the freakin' time to people of all races. because let's face it, a lot of cops are dicks (not all, but they're there.) who throw phony charges at people who annoy them, or stand up for their rights. Free speech being one of them. I'd be glad if President Obama had commented on it in a more general vein. "We need to crack down on cops abusing authority." or something more than just bashing a particular department and leaving it at that.
So, final conclusion.
Mr. Gates, may very well be an ass.
Officer Crowley, may very well be an ass.
President Obama. Don't we have more pressing issues that we should be focused on in the national theatre? Health Care, Economy, yada yada?
So, did I meet or exceed your expectations as a Libertarian in commenting on this issue?
Been following Miss Dynamite for at least 9 years or so now.
Don't comment a lot obviously. Mostly because if I stick my head up, the conservatives throw rocks at me for being too liberal, and the Liberals go all screamy at me.
Seeing how Obama handled the situation in the long run, it was a pretty smart thing to do. With the meeting he offered between him, Gates and the cop, he looks like the bigger man.
"But as long as the guy did show his idea, and didn't outright refuse to cooperate with the officer, he should have just ignored it and went on his way, instead of arresting the guy.
So, cop's bad on that."
Cop's bad indeed. It's called an abuse of authority, whether race played a role in it or not, the cop arrested a guy on his own property for expressing himself. That's wrong - first, middle, last. The cop should be reprimanded, but instead he's going to get an opportunity to sue a guy because he got called "racist" (boo-hoo).
"President Obama. Don't we have more pressing issues that we should be focused on in the national theatre? Health Care, Economy, yada yada?"
Nice, you neglected to mention that he was asked to comment on this during a press conference. The guy was a friend of his, and that probably played a large role into how he addressed the issue.
Sadly, this is just what Obama critics have been waiting for, "He played the race card! ZOMG!".
The meeting thing is a smart move. But I saw it as more of a clean up measure that he shouldn't have had to do in the first place. And Ward, as for the cop's abuse of authority. Yes, I think it's wrong. But it happens all the time man. It happens to me pretty often in fact. But I look at it realistically, if you piss them off, that's what you're going to get. Is it right? No. Is it going to happen anyway? Yes. Should you press your luck? Sure thing, as long as you have video and audio recording equipment rolling, and/or are friends with the President. ;)
Neglected to mention him being asked? Yes, yes I did. Because I find it immaterial. He should have simply responded that the time scheduled for the press conference could be put to better use, and refused to comment. Of course, I'm sure someone would have tried to read too deep into that to. It's part of the trouble with politics. Everyone looks too deep into things. Like the whole flag lapel pin thing. Is everyone still wearing those? I mostly listen to the radio for news, so I haven't seen any footage lately, but remember when they made a such a big deal out of it? On CNN no less?
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/10/06/obama-flag-pin-flap/
I keep hearing, "the cop has a gun so don't argue". Well, ya, but then that's true of anyone with a gun.
Note that I didn't say, "the cops got a gun, don't argue." For me, it's more of a badge thing. The badge is like some sort of mystic talisman, that when you tell anyone else what happened later, (i.e. The Judge) makes everything you say a lie, and the cop seem like a truth telling angel.
Remember, I said shit like this has happened to me? When it went to court, because of course, I stood up for my rights, the cop LIED his ass OFF. during court. Suddenly, these little things that I never did started being leveled at me. I won't bother with the whole stupid story unless you actually want to hear it. (not *that* exciting really) It's just a sad fact of life really.
And actually, I'm still not saying don't stand up to him either. It's the right thing to do when they're in the wrong. I'm just saying, unless you're well connected, don't expect to come out on top yanno?
Or, if you can't handle the shit that follows, then don't do it.
It all depends on how much you really want to be in the right in that situation, versus how much you dislike jail/fines/6 weeks in court/Nightsticks without even the least hint of KY jelly.
Anything else need clarification?
It seems (according to FOX News; props to Shep Smith once again) that the cops didn't even had the right to enter the house.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/29/fox-gates/
Well, they could probably wrangle that. Please note, I'm NOT throwing my support behind the cop here, just commenting on how twisty the legal system is. They say they can't enter unless they have a warrant, or witness a felony crime. Burglary is a felony in the U.S. (I'm pretty sure, I'm not a lawyer or anything.) And if Mr. Gates really was not co-operating, and the cop wasn't satisfied of his residence at the home, could he technically claim he didn't know if a felony was occurring or not?
I mean, it's the typical weaselly justification police types use.
Think they'll keep bitching about this for another week, or since I hear the Beer Break went alright, they'll drop it?
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