This Has Got to Stop, NOW

I am steaming mad and deeply, deeply ashamed of Texas and its police.  To the point of nausea, in fact.

I'm not running a daily news blog here, so I don't try to post about everything that happens in the world, and I rarely go on a blog rant anymore (realizing how useless my 2 cents' worth is in the scheme of things) - but among all the other awful things in the news today, this in particular made me lose it.

What the fuck is wrong with these big bruiser cops, throwing a little bitty woman around like a rag doll and slamming her to the ground and sitting on her?  On a simple, petty little traffic stop - which, by the way, is totally discretionary - in broad daylight, in front of hundreds of passing motorists?  Just What.The.Fuck. is wrong with them???

If it had been a white woman, you can damn sure believe the officer's badge would be gone, his career would be toast, and no second chances. And his ass would be sitting in jail for a good long while.

Unlike what happened to the McKinney police officer last year, who showed what a really BIG MAN he was by manhandling and kneeling on a skinny 14-year-old black girl in a bikini - and has now been cleared of all charges by the local grand jury:



What a travesty of justice.  The police are NOT the law.  The police are NOT above the law.  The police are NOT our masters.  They are the servants of the law and of the public, and somebody better get that across to them, pronto. 

I understand that there are times when the police are obliged to use force to preserve the peace, or defend life and property. Of course. But the sword of justice must be wielded wisely, kindly, and judiciously - and there are many, many more times when the police are under an overriding obligation NOT to use force. Something has gone far wrong here, and just what are all our elected leaders doing about it? Where is the corrective action?

This cannot go on.  Nor any of the other godawful things spilling across your TV screen every day, not if civilization is to continue.

And of course Herr Trump is milking it for all it is worth - "Vote for me, I Will Keep You Safe."  Yes, in a police state run for his and his lackeys' goddamn profit, 24/7.  Just like Hitler promised and every other shitheaded dictator you can name.  This is how and where it starts - and don't think it can't happen here.  It can.

Maybe it already has, and we just haven't realized it yet.

I have no answers.  I just say, it all has to stop now, just STOP THE MADNESS before we are all engulfed by a monstrous, evil darkness that will devour feckless liberals and overweening conservatives alike.  And if that comes, don't think for a moment that your white skin or cool clothes or your pretty college diploma will give you any immunity.  The boot will be on everyone's neck.
 
Here's the Washington Post article, if you care to read it:

Austin Police Body-slam Black Teacher

Oh, and of course there's this too, in sunny, laid-back South Florida:



North Miami Police Shoot Black Man with Hands Raised

And no, even this does NOT in any way, shape, or form justify the stupid fuckheads who have been shooting police officers.  Two wrongs do not make a right.

But it all has to STOP.  NOW.  And that means EVERYBODY on all sides.

Race and religion have nothing to do with it. Simple human decency does.

That's all I can say, I'm too upset to carry on further here.

The Pope and the Atheists

Pope Francis, in a homily he gave today in Rome (found via Andrew Sullivan):

"The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us. ‘But, Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.’ Yes, he can. He must. Not can: must! Because he has this commandment within him. Instead, this ‘closing off’ that imagines that those outside, everyone, cannot do good is a wall that leads to war and also to what some people throughout history have conceived of: killing in the name of God. That we can kill in the name of God. And that, simply, is blasphemy. To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy.”

“Instead,” the Pope continued, “the Lord has created us in His image and likeness, and has given us this commandment in the depths of our heart: do good and do not do evil”:

"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.”

This does sound like a different kind of Pope.


A further thought: Turning from the contemplation of these high and lovely thoughts to the utterly barbarous and demonic beheading of a British soldier in the streets of London in broad daylight, your Head Trucker finds no room in his heart to countenance any further shilly-shallying with the violent and the malign among us. This sickening act, like that of the bombing in Boston last month, is beyond all decency, a crime against humanity, and it must be stopped now - by whatever means necessary.

The crazies and the fanatics must not be allowed to roam freely among us and kill us at their whim; the Constitution is not a suicide pact.

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