White peole get tired quickly ...

Tired of African-Americans protesting, that is. And they have a familiar repertoire of responses to situations like this.

I saw a comment today on Facebook from someone I don't know, so I'm not sure if he's a conservative troll or just a very, very timid Democrat. His photo on his Facebook account indicates he's white. He gave what I take to be a version of "I'm not a racist, but ..." This discussion was about whether the slogan "defund the police" is too scary for Democrats to use. He agreed that it was saying, "Agree. Also think war against Confederate statues is a distraction AT THIS TIME. Not sad to see a one go down. Afraid it is just a reminder to every Trump supporter just why they voted for him in the first election. There’s a season for every purpose."

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter From a Birmingham Jail called out this argument long ago.

My own grumpy response to that guy was:

So, your option is, what, Democrats should find their own bunker to hide in until November so they won't accidentally say anything that might irritate some Republican who would never vote for a Democrat in 100 years? It was the hardcore Trumpist South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley who jumped on the remove-Confederate-symbolism bandwagon after the racist mass murder in a Charleston church in 2015. It certainly wasn't because she was out to anger Republican white supremacists, it wasn't because moving a flag or a statue is cheap and easy compared to taking on the arms manufacturers who flood the country with small arms. And it scares you that Democrats are as far to the radical left as, uh, ... Nikki Haley?

The legacy of the DLC (corporate-friendly Democratic Leadership Council) and the conservative aspects of Clintonism weighs heavily on the Democratic Party. That's true with crime and pretty much everything that touches the causes of excess police violence. Ben Smith described the DLC while it was in its death throes as an organiation (The end of the DLC era Politico 02/07/2011):

The DLC was formed in the 1980s - the debacle of the 1984 Mondale campaign was a key motivator - to wage just that kind of intra-party war against what [the DLC's last director Al] From and his allies saw as interest-group liberals content to consign the Democratic Party to minority status. The group and its best-known chairman, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, pushed balanced budgets, free trade, tough-on-crime policies, and welfare reform – all of which alienated the base, but became a key part of Clinton’s “New Democrat” agenda and his presidential legacy.

Though it was business-friendly and often cast as a corporate tool – or, as Jesse Jackson once put it, “Democrats for the leisure class” – the DLC had at its core an idea, the seed of the international “third way” movement that produced Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other leaders on the center-left. Indeed, its financial collapse could prove, in a backhanded way, that it wasn’t just the tool of monied interests since it is shutting its doors for lack of cash.

A large part of the political strategy behind the DLC - to the extent that it was just a corporate lobbyist effort to push the party to be more conservative on economic issues - was based on the fact tht, until 1992, California was considered a "safe" Democratic state in Presidential elections, which meant the Democrats saw themselves needed to win some Electoral College votes from the states of the old Confederacy.

Since Clinton's victory in 1992, the political landscape has changed drastically, demographically and economically. The Reaganism of the Republican Party has devolved into Trumpism. And if rising strt Tom Cotton is any measure, has plenty more Mussolini potential in it. The bipartisan neoliberal promises  that endless tax cuts for the wealthiest, privatizatin of public services, and corporate deregulation "trade" treaties have failed to deliver for the majority the prosperity and freedom they promised. Crime rates have fallen for 25 years or so worldwide and in the United States, but police murdering black men for no good reason is still a common story in the American news. But the Democratic Party is still lurching along with zombie DLC policy ideas and a political strategy of trying to sound as much as possible like conservative Republicans.

If the US were a multiparty parliamentary democracy, one of the two major parties would likely already have become a minor party or gone out of existence, and the other would be struggling to compete for second place. Instead both parties have in some essential way collapsed to the point that the Republicans are running a Presidential campaign that is a demented combination of the Nixon-Agnew law-and-order campaign of 1968 and the March on Rome theatrics of Mussolini and his Fascist Party of 1922. And the Democrats with Status Quo Joe Biden as their candidate is trying for a rerun of 2008, only with a more conservative tone and a much less charismatic candidate.

Meanwhile, 2020 may be on track to become a milestone year like "1968", though we'll have to consult the Owl of Minerva on that afterwards. But we so far have a trifecta of a worldwide pandemic, a massive worldwide recession, and a remarkable nationwide uprising of protest against police violence in the US, with international demonstrations in solidarity. If there was a ever a time for conceptually moribund political parties to transform themselves, this moment right now qualifies. But so far, neither is up to it.

So both parties are content to avoid any kind of leadership that might encourage mainstream white opinion on police violence to drift to get beyond long-standing patterns. And those standard white responses have turned out to be drearily familiar, including:

• He [whatever black man murdered by police we're talking about] probably had it coming.
• Black people cause most of their own problems by making "bad choices", particularly the choice of being born black
• Hey, let's talk about how wonderful and essential cops are! and, look, I'm forwarding this little screed from some cop you've never heard of whining and whining and whining about how touch cops have it.
• We should all pray to God to heal our country where everyone is hurting on all sides This one is a religious take to be expected from ministers for whom "cops shouldn't murder people" would be a heavier dose of Christianity than their flock can handle. Also from their congregants who have relatives who really aren't interested in hearing white supremacist crap from them.
• We need to finally recognize how big a problem racism against African-Americans is in this country. (The subtext is very often: dadgummit, do I really have to pretend to care about this again?)
• We need better training for the police. (A good idea as far as it goes that has recently become at least a more mainstream respectable one, and morphs easily into Biden's version: Let's give more money to the police! For training, that is.)
• Some statues of racist, pro-slavery heroes have come down, and I'm fine with that but I'm not entirely comfortable with it, especially the wildcat versions. But let's not go too far with it! (The comment at the first of this post is a variation of this one.
• We need to set up some more task forces. And maybe a commission or two. (This has the validation of Obama taking this general position.)
• We hereby declared that we've definitely decided to do something serious this time! Check back with us in a year or so and maybe we'll have some concrete ideas. (Minneapolis City Council approach.)

Michael Brooks on his podcast last week discussed ways that the two major parties will try to defang the push to reduce police violence, Astroturfing The Uprising?- Think Tank ft. Wosny Lambre TMBS 06/14/2020 (a bit of not-suitable-for-the-office language included):

There really are some large problems that need to be tackled that are central to the police violence issue, e.g., the perennial War on Drugs announced by Richard Nixon in 1971, almost 49 years ago to the day. But it is always an option to argue for inaction by pointing to larger contexts that have to be solved as a way to avoid talking about urgently needed and practical changes: Racism is a much larger problem; capitalism produces this kind of policing; Jesus is our only hope and until everyone becomes Christians there is nothing we can do.

Listening carefully to police "allies" of the police reform movement

Someone on Facebook posted a link to a police officer talking about police violence, protests, and "rioters." He commented in linking to it, "When I hear people condemning cops in general it pisses me off. I personally know cops who are as fine a human being as you could hope to meet." The statement is question is from Dave Bissonnette on June 3. He serves as a police officer in Middleton, Rhode Island.

Bisonnette's statement is a good reminder that liberals need to stop with their few-bad-apples, most-cops-are-wonderful stock response to police crimes. There are systematic, nationwide, deep-seated problems in American policing. And those most definitely include systematic white racism, though Vice President Mike Pence thinks it naughty to say so. (Gabby Orr, ‘We ought to set aside this talk’: Pence’s take on systemic racism meets a new test Politico 06/09/2020)

Unfortunately, for most people in urban areas, an encounter with a cop is an encounter with a cop they don't know personally. So we all have to assume we're dealing with a "cop in general". And when we see case after case after case of cops committing murder and being supported in their actions by fellow officers, no one can be confident that the "cop in general" they are dealing with in the moment is a responsible human being.

It's nice to see this Officer Bissonnette say, "please know that no one hates a dirty, piece of shit cop more than a good cop who does this job with honor and pride." But what we see in Buffalo after those two cops were charged with shoving down a non-threatening, unarmed 75-year-old man and leaving him to bleed out on the pavement, is that the other 57 cops "resigned" from their unit because their two POS colleagues were disciplined and then charged with a crime. How many similar resignation of cops "with honor and pride" have resigned over the nationwide violent abuses we've seen seeing cops commit for the last two weeks?

And it's nice that Officer Bissonnette's statement says he would kneel and march peacefully with people who want to protest (if they reach out to him). But his final full paragraph is a rant against "rioters", "thugs and opportunists", "cowards" who "are destroying people’s lives" and continues: "your behavior will not be tolerated. People are going to get hurt. Please do not test our resolve when it comes to protecting our flock. Enough is enough." That part is indistinguishable from the highly-paid pundits ranting on FOX News. And just what does he mean by, "People are going to get hurt", so "do not test our resolve when it comes to protecting our flock." That sounds like a threat indistinguishable from so many other "cops in general". And just who does he consider his "flock"? The other cops? The public he's serving, which would be even more disturbing?

I wonder what the conduct record of the thousands of cops he says he's trained looks like.

In a separate news report by Daniel Keith, Police Academy instructor shares what future cops are taught about use of force in RI ABC6 Rhode Island News 06/04/2020), Bissonette pitches for more funding for the conventional training that is obviously failing badly in many places.

And this is the kind of comment that people who  want responsible police need to take with a critical attitude:

[Bisonnette] called Floyd’s death a tragedy and said other officers are upset.

“There’s not anyone more upset about what happened than other police officers,” he said. “We’re trying to regain our balance here as a profession.”

In the viral video, Chauvin is seen putting Floyd in a neck restraint with his knee on the concrete until Floyd fell unconscious.

Bissonnette said that technique has not been taught to Rhode Island officers for decades, even when he went to the academy in 2001.

“There are bones in the neck you can very easily break by putting a lot of weight on there,” Bissonnette said. “There are veins in there that restrict blood flow where if you put pressure on them, veins that will restrict blood flow to the brain, and knock somebody out cold.” ...

Bissonnette said he will be using the George Floyd video to teach future officers what not to do in the field when it comes to the use of force. [my emphasis]

So he's going to show them Floyd's murder to show what not to do ...? We should ask how often this is done in a nudge-nudge-wink-wink way of showing, here's how you get away with the particular violent crime.

"Better training" is the standard liberal response to reports to police violence. Because it's totally safe to say that, since even the more avid police-reform advocates focus on training problems. And you can always offer more money to local police departments "for training". Here's a tip, that I learned decades ago working on the city budget in San Jose, CA. If you get more federal money designated for police training, say $5 million, a city can easily and entirely legitimately show they budgeted that $5 million to police training. And that might mean they increase police training function by $5 million worth. Or they might reduce the amount allocated from other city funds to training by $5 million, leaving the training budget at the same level while spending an additional $5 million on "toys for boys" items like tanks and grenade launchers to further militarize their police department.

This is why the proposal for more federal funding for police training that Joe Biden just made is essentially irrelevant to addressing criminal violence and murder by police. (Ed Kilgore, Biden Supports Reforming, Not Defunding, Police New York 06/08/2020) More money for training is about as meaningful as "thoughts and prayers" has come to mean.

And as important as training is, good training won't stop killer cops until we have a system in which cops who break the law, especially in committing violent crime, are actually on a regular basis criminally tried, convicted, and banned from serving on other police or security forces.

Dialogue with people who supporting cops who murder people?

I generally try to duck pointless arguments on Facebook. Not all arguments, but pointless ones.

One of my Facebook friends who lives in rural Mississippi posted shared a digital leaflet from some rightwing clown who immediately after posted an approving post from Congressman Gym Jordan and then an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory post featuring George Soros, the bogeyman of every Jew-hater in the world right now. The leaflet my Facebook friend reposted was a stock rightwing piece asking if we don't have police, who's going to protect us from rapists and murderers and child-molesters, etc.

I don't know the person on my Friends list who posted it that well. So I tried to post something. So I posted a response that engaged them a though the concern was actually sincere:

Every city and town and rural area needs police who enforce the law. And without cops who do their duty even when it means enforcing the law against other cops about to commit murder, how can any decent people trust the police? I personally have zero confidence that cops who deliberately murder people or tolerate other cops doing it can be trusted not to take bribes from drug traffickers or kiddie-porn distributors. And the record of police responding promptly and responsibly to rape and domestic violence in US cities is pretty poor. The official records on the number of cops who commit rape and domestic violence themselves is also scandalous. Police officers who do their job and enforce the law deserve respect. The ones who don't should not be on any police force and don't deserve the respect of any decent person.

This is pretty straightforward. It's hard to see how anyone who is actually concerned about police protecting people would disagree with that.

Not long after that, the same Facebook friend posted a version of the Republican talking point of the day, which says that the cop that murdered George Floyd was a Dem-u-crat cop in a Dem-u-crat city with a Dem-u-crat mayor. So I guess they weren't serious about effective police. They just wanted to show their tribal support for cops murdering black people for no good reason.

I don't know if killer cop Derek Chauvin is one of them thar Dem-u-crats. But his voting behavior is raising an interestin question (Daniel Villarreal, Derek Chauvin Accused of Fraudulently Voting in Florida Despite Living in Minnesota Newsweek 06/05/2020):

Because Chauvin presumably lived, worked and paid taxes in Minnesota during the 2016 and 2018 elections, he wasn't eligible to vote in the state's last two elections.

"Investigations related to voter fraud and other election crimes are triggered by the Supervisor of Elections, not the State Attorney," a spokesperson from [Orange County FL State AttorneyAramis ]Ayala's office told Newsweek.

"I have been in touch with the Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowels who confirmed Derek Chauvin is registered to vote in Orange County and did vote in 2016 and 2018," the spokesperson continued. "Upon receipt of information from a Minnesota authority that supports a violation of Florida law we will proceed accordingly."

I don't know what quirks of Florida election law may be involved here. Villarreal's report notes, "Florida ... has no-excuse absentee voting, which allows any voter to apply for an absentee ballot without having to provide any justification." It would be interesting to know if the current regulations are the result of some voter-suppresion scheme. Does this mean that students from Florida who live and work on, say, a Georgia campus where they also work in a job and therefore have to pay taxes in Georgia are not allowed to use their parents' home address as the place they register to vote?

Bunker Boy Chaos

Is this a man who will submit to a free and fair election?

Not if he can help it.

Indeed, Trump appears to have no interest in being president in the traditional sense. He’s king of the white people in the red states. Anybody who voted against him is an enemy.

To the extent that MAGA means anything, it means restoring the social conditions of the Deep South in the 1950s, an impossible delusion. [my emphasis]

That's Gene Lyons in 2020 is bad, and it’s not half over Chicago Sun-Times 06/04/2020.

He also explains some basic facts about President Bunker Boy:

Chaos is Trump’s only talent. Empowered by false bravado and Daddy’s (and/or Russian mob) money, Trump blunders into something he does not and cannot understand — the casino business, airlines, professional football, now the U.S. government. He listens to nobody, makes one foolhardy blunder after another, bankrupts or otherwise destroys the enterprise, betrays everyone who trusted him, and blames everybody but himself for the disaster.

However, Trump impersonated a business tycoon on a TV show. Millions bought the con. It’s taken him three years and a viral pandemic to bring America to a state of near breakdown, but he’s finally got us there.

So now this most godless of men has taken to posing in front of religious shrines with a Bible. [my emphasis]

Joe Conason notes, "Under ordinary circumstances, open dissent from high-ranking military officials against the actions of civilian political leaders would signal a danger familiar to other countries." (A Timely Warning From The Generals National Memo 06/05/2020)

But in the recent case of former senior military officers issuing serious warning about the illegal use of the military inside the United States:

Speaking out in defense of constitutional order, these retired officers articulated a fundamental principle: Unlawful orders to fire on fellow Americans are not to be obeyed. We live in a republic, not a dictatorship. And should Trump or his cohort harbor any militaristic fantasies about the upcoming election — which he appears likely to lose — well, this uplifting episode marked a line that they shouldn't dare cross.

Wesley Clark talks about the issue in this CNN clip: Retired general: Mattis' statement does two powerful things 06/04/2020. This is an additional clip from the same day from Clark on Sen. Tom Cotton couldn't be more wrong.