Why Do Local Cops Need Camoflauge?

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:24 pm

Bonus to this being local? I get local news rather than cnn shit show.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:26 pm

O's game cancelled. (Finally.)

eta: I should try wmar or wbal online. Al Sharpton doing a pretty good job on msnbc, I guess he knows his riots.

CVS store at North and Pennsylvania is now in flames.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:28 pm

By coincidence, commissioner was in town, his call.

Took long enough.

The cvs is now on fire, that's going to the ground.

Amazing to see this in broad daylight.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:41 pm

Fifty years ago, I was an 8yo boy living in a Los Angeles neighborhood that was consumed by three days of horribly violent race rioting, in response to decades of police violence laid upon the people who lived there.

I have literally seen this shit my entire life. I am bemused that over all these decades, America still refuses to address this simple problem of racism-driven police violence. And then America is shocked at the completely predictably, absolutely inevitable response of rioting and violence. What the fuck do you expect, America?

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 5:51 pm

Two little things. Some reports are already giving huge weight to social media in the genesis of this rioting. Bullshit - like there never was a riot before cell phones.

And an early (in the course of today's events) incident if not the initial incident was high school kids from Douglass High rioting at Mondawmin Mall across the street. Either the school let the students out early, or they got out at the usual time. But another report is that the subway running from that location downtown was shut down. I wonder if high school kids unable to take the train home, left standing around, contributed to the situation. If so, that is more likely than social media to fuel the rioting.

rass · Post by **rass** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:03 pm

http://www.msnbc.com/shift" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The guy just ranting about the "real shit" on that feed sounded like howard in regards to social media.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:04 pm

National guard activated, city wide curfew in effect starting at 10.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:06 pm

Boy, your Balto mayor is a real lightweight, even compared to the other elected officials who spoke in this 7:45pm presser. Weak sauce.

She said curfew starts tomorrow night.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:07 pm

howard wrote:Boy, your Balto mayor is a real lightweight, even compared to the other elected officials who spoke in this 7:45pm presser. Weak sauce.

She said curfew starts tomorrow night.

She's completely terrible. Legacy electee. So far out of her depth it isn't funny. The problems in the city are so beyond her grasp it frightens me.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:11 pm

Where is Kurt Schmoke now that your city needs him? (The longer-time balto folks know him well. I thought he was gonna be the first black president.)

wlu_lax6 · Post by **wlu_lax6** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:15 pm

howard wrote:Where is Kurt Schmoke now that your city needs him? (The longer-time balto folks know him well. I thought he was gonna be the first black president.)

He is speaking at my synagogue in a few Sundays from now.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:26 pm

Tell him Ethel Rich's nephew says hey.

The peaceful march down North Avenue right now is pretty cool, led by clergy members and Elijah Cummings. Oh, CNN, Fox and msnbc aren't showing it; Al Jazeera and RT are. motherfuckers.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:28 pm

And wbal TV locally- they are solid.

Reports of looting at Lexington market. Dunno if true.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:30 pm

Sucks to be a random police officer getting injured tonight.

15 injured already.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:30 pm

Fox now showing the peaceful march. Singing and all. Sorry to admit it, but they do a better job than the others, particularly Shepard Smith.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:47 pm

Anyone check in on BFJ or dose he live in those affluent Jewish burbs?

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:06 pm

A couple of fires over on the East side, blocks from Hopkins Hospital.

eta: my man Schmoke being interviewed live on Al Jazeera tv.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:08 pm

Fires is an understatement. That is enormous.

The neighborhood north of Hopkins is a hellscape. Reports of men with guns and masks in the area. If so, and if fires were set, sign this is somewhat coordinated/ related to west side unrest.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:10 pm

Bldg that is burning was to be a new senior center- that was likely set.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:14 pm

Yeah, by the Southern Baptist Church, on Gay street. One of the rare churches I have actually attended services.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:18 pm

Shots fired, and lockdown at Hopkins medical campus.

I expected shit to calm down after sunset. My usual optimistic nature. Missed that forecast.

Trivia question: name the last governor of Maryland to declare a state of emergency for baltimore county. (according to wmar channel 2)

eta: in case it is not evident, man do I love breaking news stories.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:39 pm

Reports of masked people with guns on east side of city- may be related to the fires.

This is rather surreal.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:40 pm

There is SO much poverty on east side and west side, those neighborhoods were a tinder box to start with, now literally true.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:05 pm

The tv stations (2 and 11) are repeating tweets as if they are actual facts. The masked gunmen sounds like rumor; frankly I am surprised there has been no gunfire directed at cops or firemen so far. A more credible report of looting down on Eastern avenue, on the other side of Hopkins.

Which local tv channel do you think is doing the best job?

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:18 pm

It was 11, but they are running out of steam. Officer fired on, on west side apparently. I am not discounting any reports of organized groups of people. Wouldn't take much to cause problems.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:25 pm

Thanks, I'll stick with 11. I'm still hopeful things will stay calm the rest of the night. And that a massive national guard/state trooper presence tomorrow will chill things.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:34 pm

howard wrote:Have a recommendation for which network is giving the best pictures?

I'd suggest CNN for the 3D pixelated Wolf Blitzer walking through a Taiwanese cartoon newscast version of a riot.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:41 pm

Sounds like CNN has significantly upgraded

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:54 pm

This Joanne lady on FOX is on a soapbox. "nobody cares about blacks, it's been going on for decades"

Joe K · Post by **Joe K** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 10:25 pm

A typically spot-on column from Ta-Nehisi Coates, who grew up in the neighborhood where all of this started:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... ce/391640/

The conclusion is pretty powerful:

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.

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 10:28 pm

Thanks, that paragraph is spot on and one of my main thoughts tonight, in response to the typically empty rhetoric. King spoke to this kind of hypocrisy. So did this guy pictured with King, sharing a laugh:

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 10:39 pm

so why did the police line move back 200 yards, let everyone loot everything then move back up again?

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 10:49 pm

I saw signs of the cops behaving very cowardly and incompetently. I am sure as their actions are compiled and revealed, these two characteristics will be prominent. Their collective fear for their own safety overcomes every other concern and dictates their actions more than any other factors. I'm sure the movement of this line can be explained by fear of being hurt by rocks.

The story of how this started, how a bunch of cops were run off by a mob of high school students w/o firearms in a shopping mall, I bet will demonstrate this.

Lest I be mistaken for approving the violence committed by rioters and looters, in the spirit of Heineken Man after Katrina, this:

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:23 am

So many structure fires, so many abandoned bldgs that can be targeted.

Pruitt · Post by **Pruitt** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 4:28 am

howard wrote:Fifty years ago, I was an 8yo boy living in a Los Angeles neighborhood that was consumed by three days of horribly violent race rioting, in response to decades of police violence laid upon the people who lived there.

I have literally seen this shit my entire life. I am bemused that over all these decades, America still refuses to address this simple problem of racism-driven police violence. And then America is shocked at the completely predictably, absolutely inevitable response of rioting and violence. What the fuck do you expect, America?

This is what many people do expect, and it allows them to turn the narrative from anger at the way the police treat some citizens to outrage at the way some people steal things and burn their own communities.

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:18 am

howard wrote:Fox now showing the peaceful march. Singing and all. Sorry to admit it, but they do a better job than the others, particularly Shepard Smith.

Shep is actually pretty damn good most of the time.

vandwagon · Post by **vandwagon** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:33 am

I watched a lot of the Channel 11 coverage starting around 8:30 after my kids were in bed. I tried explaining it to my 7 year old in somewhat vague terms, but am not sure it worked. He wanted to watch the Orioles after we got home from his game and figured I owed him an explanation as to why the game was called off.

Watching it just depressed me and I turned it off around 11.

I hate that yesterday's events will be looked at in a vacuum and people who only want to see the riots will not give any thought to the reasons those riots happened. They interviewed a local kid at the site of the big fire last night and he talked about how the rec centers were closed, the schools have been neglected and people were just looking for an excuse to do something. He laughed when asked about his interactions with police and the other young men in the crowd laughed along with him.

It sucks. I'm having a hard time articulating everything I'm feeling and feel powerless as far as any ability to impact anything. I hope real change comes out of this, but like Howard said upthread, this shit has been going on for a long, long time. What is it going to take to break that cycle?

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:38 am

vandwagon wrote:It sucks. I'm having a hard time articulating everything I'm feeling and feel powerless as far as any ability to impact anything. I hope real change comes out of this, but like Howard said upthread, this shit has been going on for a long, long time. What is it going to take to break that cycle?

A black president would do the trick, right? Maybe we'll get one of those some day.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:44 am

vandwagon wrote:I hate that yesterday's events will be looked at in a vacuum and people who only want to see the riots will not give any thought to the reasons those riots happened.

Yup. You'd think every poor black city is in a state of constant riots versus just the rare reactionary riots with a clear and obvious trigger.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 9:06 am

Shirley wrote:
vandwagon wrote:It sucks. I'm having a hard time articulating everything I'm feeling and feel powerless as far as any ability to impact anything. I hope real change comes out of this, but like Howard said upthread, this shit has been going on for a long, long time. What is it going to take to break that cycle?
A black president would do the trick, right? Maybe we'll get one of those some day.

A foreign Muslim Black President isn't good enough. I hate seeing these riots. Store owners and people who live in the riot zones get fucked, and it feeds into the racists arguments. I'm sure the Free Republic board is full of comments referring to the rioters as "animals," and the riots result in sympathy for the police and take away from the protesters, who deserve the media focus.