The Murder of George Floyd and the Response To It

[Dave_LF]

Yup. Throw them out. Let the radical left/right form their own parties while you realign with the pragmatist middle. Either party would be better for doing this.

[Alatar]

[elengil]

Very emotional. Thank you for sharing it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This made me cry, but it is worth watching. I'm just posting a link rather than using the Youtube function because it may ask if you are willing to proceed. Some of the images are tough to see, but I urge you to watch it with an open heart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9& ... 1601331404

[Inanna]

[RoseMorninStar]

*sigh*
...

I'd really like the question, What does 'Make America Great Again' mean? No one holds Trump's feet to the fire on that one and he should answer although I suspect we all know exactly what he means.

I love the sign at the end.

[elengil]

So this isn't exactly a response to George Floyd since it happened prior, however it directly relates to the protests that happened for the bulk of last year, even though this is from 2017


I love how the defense is "Your honor, we didn't know he was a cop, we thought he was just exercising his first amendment rights when we decided to beat him up."

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I would characterize the testimony so far in Derek Chauvin's trial as "overwhelming". Which raises my estimate of the likelihood that he will be convicted to about 20%.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Today they played something at the trial that I didn't expect. The voice of Derek Chauvin, minutes after George Floyd was taken away in an ambulance, lifeless, justifying what he had done. The utter lack of remorse, of any sense that he had snuffed out the life of a fellow human being, was utterly chilling. As bad, if not worse, than watching the video of the murder itself. The justification? He was big, and he was "on something." Never mind the fact that at no time did Mr. Floyd commit a crime that was in any way violent or threatening (he used a counterfeit $20 bill that he almost certainly did not know was counterfeit). At no time did Mr. Floyd ever do anything remotely threatening or violent towards any of the officers or anyone else there (he was terrified and certainly confused, and because of that was not always complete cooperative, but even then he never made any threatening gestures, actions, words or even struggled in any way other than going limp).

I am utterly horrified.

[RoseMorninStar]

This cannot be allowed to pass. From what little I saw, and I did not hear the audio that you refer to V, it was utterly horrifying. Cold blooded and cruel murder.

[River]

How would being "on something" justify what happened that day anyway?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I am still sticking with my estimate of 20% chance likelihood of conviction. Which is also horrifying.

[elengil]

How would being "on something" justify what happened that day anyway?

All they have to do is convince the jury that the scary black man on drugs is responsible for his own death.

[Frelga]

I am flabbergasted at the idea that so many Americans seem to be OK with police just casually killing people in the street. In ye olde USSR, there were things to worry about (although not nearly that many for my generation), but that was not one that ever crossed our minds. Like, it was not a thought that could be thoughted.

[elengil]

I am flabbergasted at the idea that so many Americans seem to be OK with police just casually killing people in the street. In ye olde USSR, there were things to worry about (although not nearly that many for my generation), but that was not one that ever crossed our minds. Like, it was not a thought that could be thoughted.

Because the people who are okay with police casually killing people in the street actually see the police righteously removing a black criminal from society. They don't think it could ever happen to "one of them" and largely they are right so far, which is why using counterfeit $20 bill justifies 4 police officers sitting on you until you die, but murdering 10 people in a grocery store ensures you will be taken safely into police custody.

[River]

It helps if you can reduce the victim to "big scary black man on drugs" or "criminal scum" or some other mental tricks that shaves off their humanity a little. That way, the person the cops killed in the street wasn't quite a person and it's all fine and dandy and you've got nothing to worry about it because you and everyone you actually care about that aren't like that and the cops would never do that to you or anyone you actually care about so tralala.

el, I literally live five miles from the King Soopers that got shot up. The only reason I don't know anyone who was in that store that day is luck. Can we just not go there? I know the shooter looked like a middle-aged white guy when they walked him out of the store in his undershorts with blood running down his leg last week but he's 21 and a naturalized citizen of Syrian origin (immigrated as a toddler). And yeah, he's Muslim. He also killed a cop, which in some areas pretty much automatically gets you killed by other cops this guy will face actual justice because the cops and prosecutors around here know how to do their jobs. Colorado has a death penalty but I doubt the Boulder DA will seek it.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

My estimate of the possibility of conviction increased somewhat after watching the testimony today by Lt. Richard Zimmerman, the Minneapolis Police Department's most senior officer in terms of years served. His condemnation of Chauvin's actions was pretty devastating.

[Sunsilver]

I've seen video footage that shows Floyd was having trouble breathing before he was pinned to the ground, no doubt due to the Fentanyl in his system.

In this day and age, police officers should know the signs of Fentanyl or opioid overdose, and call for the paramedics, not make things worse by pinning them to the ground with a knee on their neck! I heard the paramedics testify they had to actually physically push Chauvin off of Floyd so they could begin treatment.

[River]

According to testimony today, just having your hands cuffed behind your back restricts breathing even if you're not on opioids. In other words, the treatment of Floyd after he was cuffed was just wrong no matter what was or wasn't in his blood stream.

[Sunsilver]

Yes, exactly!