Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

watching Rambo 3. it occurs that we should not have supported the Afghans against the Soviets.

Did Jimmy Carter make even 1 good decision?

There was that time he decided not to worry about what some shitty Sly Stallone movie had to say about foreign policy.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

There was that time he decided not to worry about what some shitty Sly Stallone movie had to say about foreign policy.

Ummm, the movie was anti-Russian. I just recognized, with my superior intelligence, that we would have been better off if Russia controlled Afghanistan.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

There was that time he decided not to worry about what some shitty Sly Stallone movie had to say about foreign policy.

oh, and I don't normally reply to the same post twice, but as a Sly Stallone movie it was pretty much on par. It was not shitty for a Sly Stallone movie.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

oh, and I don't normally reply to the same post twice, but as a Sly Stallone movie it was pretty much on par. It was not shitty for a Sly Stallone movie.

Demolition Man was the only good Sly Stallone movie. There are rules about these things.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Demolition Man was the only good Sly Stallone movie. There are rules about these things.

Dissent. Woody Allen's Bananas is a Sly Stallone movie, although uncredited, and it is funny as shit.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Demolition Man was the only good Sly Stallone movie. There are rules about these things.

First Blood is a good movie.

TM

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Missouri is just fucked-up.

Send in the National Guard to kick a few asses and the problem will resolve itself.

[taxwonk]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

Demolition Man was the only good Sly Stallone movie. There are rules about these things.

He actually did pretty well in the remake of Get Carter. Not as good as Michael Caine in the original, but one has to make certain allowances for Sly.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Coates criticizes advocates of non-violence in Baltimore. He's right in almost all of his individual points. Let's face it, there may be rioters, looters and thieves on the streets of Baltimore throwing things at police, but the murderers on the streets of Baltimore this week are in uniform.

The problem is, whatever the critique he has of non-violence, violence is much worse.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Coates criticizes advocates of non-violence in Baltimore. He's right in almost all of his individual points. Let's face it, there may be rioters, looters and thieves on the streets of Baltimore throwing things at police, but the murderers on the streets of Baltimore this week are in uniform.

The problem is, whatever the critique he has of non-violence, violence is much worse.

Bastard! You beat me to putting up that link. This is fantastic writing:

When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con. And none of this can mean that rioting or violence is "correct" or "wise," any more than a forest fire can be "correct" or "wise." Wisdom isn't the point tonight. Disrespect is. In this case, disrespect for the hollow law and failed order that so regularly disrespects the rioters themselves.

I'd have taken it one step further. Blacks in these communities obviously want violent rioting to end, but when they're paraded before cameras, as Gray's family was, they might want to add a caveat to their pleas for calm. A thing they never say, but should, would be:

"Please, stop destroying your own neighborhood. And those who are using this as cover to commit crimes, we hope you are prosecuted for victimizing your own community.

But you outside this community -- you need to understand why this is happening. You are using a violent police state to manage a population of people who cannot find jobs. You are allowing large portions of this country to degrade into favelas. There is a third world nation hiding behind the curtain of America, and it's only growing larger every day.

If the best reaction you can summon to this is to blame desperate people for reacting violently to violence, you can expect a whole lot more of this in coming years."

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Coates criticizes advocates of non-violence in Baltimore. He's right in almost all of his individual points. Let's face it, there may be rioters, looters and thieves on the streets of Baltimore throwing things at police, but the murderers on the streets of Baltimore this week are in uniform.

The problem is, whatever the critique he has of non-violence, violence is much worse.

It's almost (mainly?) universally true that the police start the violence. Obviously, they start it when a young man ends up dead for running from the cops. But more directly they start it when they form battle lines and brandish their clubs. Especially when they do so after shutting transit and telling a bunch of kids to go home.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Adder

It's almost (mainly?) universally true that the police start the violence. Obviously, they start it when a young man ends up dead for running from the cops. But more directly they start it when they form battle lines and brandish their clubs. Especially when they do so after shutting transit and telling a bunch of kids to go home.

And yet, when people riot it reinforces the view that the police are the thin blue line protecting the rest of society -- a view that FOX et all jump all over, with only the slightest hint (ack! cough! choke!) of racial overtones (gasp! hurl!).

We are due for a fundamental restructuring of law enforcement in this country. The legacy of the high-crime years is that the police behave, and are trained to behave, like an occupying army. One that has the support of courts and politicians to protect them, and one that exploits the occupied territory to finance itself. Police beatings and murder, ridiculous use of civil forfeitures and fines, white police forces in black communities.... these are all of a piece.

I fear we are not up to the task of changing this, without a few more widespread riots to fuel the need.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

We are due for a fundamental restructuring of law enforcement in this country. The legacy of the high-crime years is that the police behave, and are trained to behave, like an occupying army. One that has the support of courts and politicians to protect them, and one that exploits the occupied territory to finance itself. Police beatings and murder, ridiculous use of civil forfeitures and fines, white police forces in black communities.... these are all of a piece.

They are also of a piece with Jim Crow and before that slavery too.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

And yet, when people riot it reinforces the view that the police are the thin blue line protecting the rest of society -- a view that FOX et all jump all over, with only the slightest hint (ack! cough! choke!) of racial overtones (gasp! hurl!).

We are due for a fundamental restructuring of law enforcement in this country. The legacy of the high-crime years is that the police behave, and are trained to behave, like an occupying army. One that has the support of courts and politicians to protect them, and one that exploits the occupied territory to finance itself. Police beatings and murder, ridiculous use of civil forfeitures and fines, white police forces in black communities.... these are all of a piece.

I fear we are not up to the task of changing this, without a few more widespread riots to fuel the need.

End the war on drugs and 30% of the police state disappears. Pass a law barring private contractors from being involved in running prisons and another 20% vanishes. Pass Rand Paul and Corey Booker's bill to wipe criminal records, allowing people who've served their debt to become employable again, and another 10% is gone.

But fuck all that. We'll never do that. Instead, we'll double down on our "get tough on crime" bullshit. And don't expect much from Hillary on this. The Clintons will pander shamelessly to "law and order" sorts for votes.

A few more riots will just embolden those who profit from and work within the police state to seek more artillery.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Bastard! You beat me to putting up that link. This is fantastic writing:

When nonviolence is preached as an attempt to evade the repercussions of political brutality, it betrays itself. When nonviolence begins halfway through the war with the aggressor calling time out, it exposes itself as a ruse. When nonviolence is preached by the representatives of the state, while the state doles out heaps of violence to its citizens, it reveals itself to be a con. And none of this can mean that rioting or violence is "correct" or "wise," any more than a forest fire can be "correct" or "wise." Wisdom isn't the point tonight. Disrespect is. In this case, disrespect for the hollow law and failed order that so regularly disrespects the rioters themselves.

I'd have taken it one step further. Blacks in these communities obviously want violent rioting to end, but when they're paraded before cameras, as Gray's family was, they might want to add a caveat to their pleas for calm. A thing they never say, but should, would be:

"Please, stop destroying your own neighborhood. And those who are using this as cover to commit crimes, we hope you are prosecuted for victimizing your own community.

But you outside this community -- you need to understand why this is happening. You are using a violent police state to manage a population of people who cannot find jobs. You are allowing large portions of this country to degrade into favelas. There is a third world nation hiding behind the curtain of America, and it's only growing larger every day.

If the best reaction you can summon to this is to blame desperate people for reacting violently to violence, you can expect a whole lot more of this in coming years."

Some men just want to watch the world burn.