"The counterprotestors (numbering over a thousand) attempted to block the KKK's vehicles from leaving, were hurling things in their direction and using pepper spray."

Hmm, it's almost like that's an official bullshit narrative or something... nah, let's just not question it despite the numerous videos indicating otherwise.

The KKK had been told to park their cars in the police garage to ensure prompt go home when their 'license to protest' ended at 4pm, it did not end at 4pm so to any question of 'legality' there, the KKK had overstayed their 'official license' and yet the cops did not remove them or tear gas them et al.

A handful of empty water bottles were thrown allegedly. Hardly a hail of stones or missiles as some of the press and cops are claiming.

The police used tear gas grenades, not the protestors and they did so AFTER the KKK left. Again, this is evident when you watch any of the numerous livestreams of the event rather than taking the cops' story to be the number 1 accurate take.

They tear-gassed a fucking medic station dude, is that some hotbed of black bloc agitation or could it be that the cop version of events is usually painted to make themselves blameless? Nah, must just be those crazy SJWs right?

Here's a washington post journo on scene:
https://twitter.com/JoeHeim/status/883784866051096578
https://twitter.com/JoeHeim/status/883793588634755073
https://twitter.com/JoeHeim/status/883794314874281984

Not to mention this is the precursor to the august 12 alt-shite protest, so the public turned up to openly reject the KKK and their pals, as they and anyone with a spine -should-.

Not sure where exactly you guys get the idea that ignoring these people makes them go away/powerless, because you're witnessing their modern-day resurgence and still preaching apathy. Hella dumb.

Whew, well, it sure is a relief knowing there are only 3000 racist people in the entire country. Load off my mind. Now everyone stop protesting or resisting them in any way, or racism wins.

I guess Americas riot police are just like Americas bombs, they only get the bad guys.

Exactly, all these funny colour haired college gay sjws man, if they would just do as they're told, then the cops wouldn't have to step on them/tear-gas them/kill them in custody/shoot at them. /s

What's amazing to me is that they repeat the exact same lines: "it's all people from outside the area" "it was an illegal protest" "they were throwing things/attacking the cops" every goddamn time (those being the exact claims made during say the Kent State shootings) as though they justify the heavy-handed authoritarian state acting this way again and again and again.

SolRo, I've been noticing that since at least WTO.

I can't believe it....
5 stars for SolRo.

Well I'll be

What the hell? SolRo often has good points. Granted, not always, but who among us hasn't said something dumb from time to time?

Not I, said this Random Internet Person.

Or... wait.... should that be "I, said this Random Internet Person".

Goddamn double negatives.

Sometimes I slip up and say something that isn't dumb.

There were several MRAPs on scene, among other 'milsurp'.

Sorry did it have to be RPGs or AA launchers to be taken seriously? I guess you guys are just so used to riot cops arming up against your population that you don't even question the militarisation any more?

Odd that you think anyone protesting the KKK must be rich though 🤔🤔🤔

only honest, hard-working trailer trash collecting social security and on medicare hate black people

I can buy an MRAP on Ebay. What else ya got? Try not to reach into "bullshit narrative" territory

You can buy lots of milsurp online yeah, mayyybe, just maybe there's a slightly different context to -you- buying it versus the cops bringing them to a protest or something?

I mean what exactly are you trying to say here?

First it's 'not milsurp' now it's 'well I can buy milsurp too'? Duh, no shit Sherlock.

ebay = automatic demilitarization


learn something new from the racist gun nuts every day.

No you said milsurp is scary. I'm saying it isn't. But you also think there is a KKK resurgence so I guess big trucks would scare you too.

Hmm, yet another interesting take. I never once mentioned anything being 'scary'.

I argued that it's so normalized that none of you question it any more and your subsequent posts are a big ol' QED on that.

As for the resurgence:
https://www.lawfareblog.com/150-years-hate-resurgence-ku-klux- klan

If you put military surplus weapons on ebay, they automatically become both not military and not intimidating, got it.

If only ebay would use it's amazing transmutation powers for something good.

It's not about buying military stuff on ebay so you can play army in your backyard, it's about the systemic conversion of American police into a quasi-military force. It's a problem acknowledged even by a lot of police departments. All over the country cops aren't acting as public servant peace keepers as much as doorkickers.

In this case you've got cops tooled up and in-force using their "riot" stuff to stamp out a peaceful protest. One that was there to counter-protest the KKK, which is an actual terrorist organization.

Cool. I see shields, helmets, flahbangs maybe a sniper rifle and word on the street is there were MRAPS. Most Americans can own any of that stuff legally. It's not that big of a deal to see the cops with it. I hope that helps a little!

Just ask this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkVn1lzcK70

Its a problem when your regular police start looking, and acting, more and more like SWAT on a daily basis.


It may be a reflection of police being increasingly made up of cowardly racist white gun nuts, who naturally need military hardware and a license to kill black people on sight to feel safe.

SolRo, a lot of it is actually old fashioned cost cutting, really. By making police training and procedure more like military training and procedure, police forces across the country have been cutting training costs significantly by just hiring people returning from active duty and sticking them out on the streets with minimal retraining.

And the delicious fact that the DHS has been funneling the surplus toys to police departments so that the manufacturers can keep selling shit the public doesn't need. Give the cops a tank and eventually, most departments are going to find a situation where it seems too handy to ignore, etc. Once public unrest is great enough, they're super-handy too.

To be fair, people often throw shit at cops at protests. I don't find helmets and shields concerning. That's not to say the militarization of police isn't real or kind of disturbing.

A lot of it, I think, is that people* were traumatized by the increasing crime rates of the 80s and 90s, and they still picture our cities as post-apocalyptic hellholes where zombies, mutants, and irradiated monsters** wander the streets.

Except, it turns out we fixed the problem, starting 40 years ago. Yes there was an increase in crime rates all over the place, and it turns out the problem was probably that kids were growing up hotboxing lead fumes. The EPA started phasing out leaded gas in the 1970s, and kids are growing up in environments with less lead giving them brain damage:

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/02/lead-exposure-g asoline-crime-increase-children-health/

These days, urban violent crime rates are no higher than in the suburbs. Now that's a change in perspective. We kind of used to assume that cities promoted violence because of everyone being crammed together too tightly, but proximity had little to do with it.

My point: militarization might make sense today, if the EPA hadn't solved our crime outbreak problem decades ago. But we can, and should, stand down.

*: Which people exactly? I think I'm referring to suburbanites mostly. People living in cities bore the worst of it, but they also saw the crime rates go down firsthand. It's suburbanites who think things are still as depicted on "Homicide: Life on the Street".

**: So basically brown people.

Let's not forget, too, that both the military and the police are farming out a large portion of their of their training to private contractors now and have been for the last 15 years.

I thought violent crime rates were actually a bit higher in the suburbs and exurbs than in cities these days, at least per capita.

"I don't know any details outside of the clip..."

...and yet here's several paragraphs of boilerplate libshittery in the form of yet another 15th hot take.

Rethink this.

So, 15th favours police retraining, probably to the tune of "conflict de-escalation" or "appropriate response." Just guessing on the specifics.

bawbag, I'm curious to hear your response to that one? Just based on your tone, I'm guessing you don't think it goes far enough, or misses the mark, or doesn't address some underlying problem? What's wrong with training cops to be less violent, and what would be your alternative suggestion?

We've disagreed in the past, but I'm being genuine here.

As a guess, bawbag's point is that the order of operations should be:

1) Learn.
2) Form opinions.

My opinion on free speech is boiler plate because I feel strongly about it. If there was police brutality or fuckery not seen in the clip, I'd still think the thing to do is address that and not mess with what I believe is the linchpin of free societies.

The KKK and police brutality are awful, but everyone here knows that. I bring up free speech because I hear a lot of dog whistles to do away with it. Not because I'm naive, sympathetic to radicals or some boot licker.

It's just my opinion. I'm not quite sure what bawbags and Bort's are other than I'm wrong.

Well, I'm not sure what Bort's is. I'm guessing bawbags involves face punching.

1. De-militarisation.
2. More stringent background/psych eval of recruits and serving cops.
3. Independent civilian review of policing and police hiring.
4. Community engagement/outreach beyond the bullshit 'blue lives matter' ad copy and kiss-ass BBQs for their families and friends .
5. A zero tolerance policy for cops with extremist views/long records of complaints on record.
6. A policy of 'not using force' against otherwise peaceful protestors/civvies coupled with harsh repercussions for violating said policy.
7. De-escalation taught at every level, every single use of force reviewed and fully explained to the Independent civilian review board.
8. More work in co-operative policing.
9. ...and last but certainly not least, no more 'issuing licenses' to actual terrorist hate groups (note for the edgy: BLM are not comparable to the KKK) where the context is likely to lead to public affray/disorder.

This would all be a great start to systemic reform which is what's sorely needed IMHO.

I agree with those, save the last one. I'd add incentives to live in the communities they are policing!

Thanks, bawbag. Obviously there would be a lot to say about all those points, but I definitely agree in spirit, and with the idea that we need a massive reform of the police institution to make it more accountable, less violent, and less appealing as a career to militant bullies.

So in other words:

bullshit
bullshit
bullshit
bullshit
bullshit
bullshit
bullshit
bullshit
The cops smashed the wrong heads.

haha ooh someone's mad as fuck.
Gyno titties jiggling all up in that amon amarth t-shirt.

Thanks for the input lardtard of Lincoln, maybe stick to the homophobic slurs next time, it's a bit more your speed IQ-wise.