Another grand jury fail...

[MajGenl.Meade]

Which reminds me of:



and

[Lord Jim]

Racist!

[Big RR]

What's that thing coming out of the top of his head?

[MajGenl.Meade]

[Sue U]

What's that thing coming out of the top of his head?

It's a showerhead, and a not-so-subtle reference to a sexual assault case in which Zuma said (among other things) he took a shower after the incident so that he wouldn't get HIV.

ETA:

It has become a Zapiro standard in his depictions of Zuma.

[Big RR]

OK, I get it now. I guess I'm just getting older and slower. Thanks.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I do have to commend the protesters here in NY for not firebombing and looting stores/businesses in the aftermath of the GJ verdict.
However, they (the protesters) should not be allowed to block main streets/highways/bridges. Public safety is at risk when they do, not to mention the disruption of anyone trying to get anywhere.

[oldr_n_wsr]

I did hear one of the protestors interviewed the other night (when they were lighting the tree) saying they were going to try and bring the portest to Rockerfeller Center. The interviewer ask "why RC?" the protestor responded "that's where the cameras are".

[Big RR]

That only makes sense when you consider that the reason for a protest is to make a public statement (and the reason why political conventions in the past set up secluded, segregated "free speech" zones for protests).

[oldr_n_wsr]

That only makes sense when you consider that the reason for a protest is to make a public statement (and the reason why political conventions in the past set up secluded, segregated "free speech" zones for protests).

I heard some did march across the brooklyn bridge but I don't know if it was contained to the "walking path. I think the Manhattan Bridge closed to allow the protestors to march.

[Lord Jim]

I do have to commend the protesters here in NY for not firebombing and looting stores/businesses in the aftermath of the GJ verdict.

There was violence at the protest in Oakland the first night, but apparently not last night...(at least not enough to get mentioned in the press)

From the news accounts of the demonstrations, it appears to me that there must be some coordination between the organizers in various cities, because the pattern followed by the demonstrators are so similar...

They meet up, and march through traffic (bringing it to a standstill) chanting the same things, and almost always with the objective of trying to reach some bridge or highway to block...(frequently accompanied by a "die-in" where the protestors fall to the ground pretending to have been shot...)

I'm reluctant to criticize these tactics, (since yhey're clearly a big improvement over burning and looting) but I have to question how one would think that the best way to win supporters for your cause is to make impossible for people to get around town...

[wesw]

i have no problem with non violent protest. besides, i have a jeep. i don t need no stinkin bridges

[Guinevere]

Imagine that Eric Garner had been white. Imagine that he’d been living in Idaho. Imagine that the law-enforcement officers who killed him had been federal agents.

His death would be a Tea Party crusade.

Think about it. The police hassled Garner because he had a history of selling untaxed cigarettes. It’s the kind of big-government intrusion that drives Tea Partiers nuts. One of the events that helped launch the Tea Party, in fact, came in January 2009, when activists from Young Americans for Liberty donned American Indian garb to protest the soda taxes proposed by then-New York Governor David Patterson.

http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archi ... te/383420/

[wesw]

does anyone think the police in the garner case were justified?

I don t. what s your point, except to take any opportunity to denigrate republicans?

[BoSoxGal]

oldr,

If the folks who marched on Selma in the streets and over bridges had instead marched away from anywhere where anyone would be bothered or any traffic would be disrupted, there would have been no fire hoses and police attack dogs set on marchers and no video of that on national television then there might never have been a Civil Rights Act, or the getting of one might have taken much longer.

Peaceful protest in the streets that disrupts traffic and the normal routine and makes it onto national television and radio and now on the interwebs in videos and blog postings is exactly what is needed to achieve real reform in policing in this country, and real reform in policing is needed nationwide.

I wish there was a march near me, I'd happily join in.

[Econoline]

oldr,

If the folks who marched on Selma in the streets and over bridges had instead marched away from anywhere where anyone would be bothered or any traffic would be disrupted, there would have been no fire hoses and police attack dogs set on marchers and no video of that on national television then there might never have been a Civil Rights Act, or the getting of one might have taken much longer.

Peaceful protest in the streets that disrupts traffic and the normal routine and makes it onto national television and radio and now on the interwebs in videos and blog postings is exactly what is needed to achieve real reform in policing in this country, and real reform in policing is needed nationwide.

Exactly. The protesters involved in the recent demonstrations for democracy in Hong Kong understood this too, and so did the government in Beijing which tried to limit news coverage of the protests. (Of course, it hasn't accomplished anything there--YET--but we'll just have to wait and see what happens in the long run. I'd like to think that we're better than China, wouldn't you?)

[rubato]

Jon Stewart nails it:

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/91gaa ... -t-breathe

[BoSoxGal]

[Econoline]

One very minor point I've been wondering about; maybe somebody can enlighten me: If the arrest of Garner for selling loose cigarettes was because those cigarettes were "untaxed"....where the hell did he get those cigarettes without buying a full (taxed!) pack of cigarettes?????

[wesw]

only 5 something a pack in Delaware with tax. cheaper in Virginia, I think. next to nothing on the indian reservations, tax free!

oh yeah, apparently there is a huge supply of Chinese counterfeits as well