Is your life that boring and meaningless? I know you think you're trolling and all but, no... I am afraid you don't get to rustle my jimmies because I can just point out that you're not that bright and be done or I can keep pointing it out and you keep coming back to amuse me. Which, really, has snared the other?
Excellent. You found two. Out of how many? Those are really small odds. Do you know how many rounds are fired at a range that do not go into innocent women and children? No, I admit, it is a tragic thing when it does happen. It is hardly the norm.
I find it best to treat them, mostly, like big dumb animals. I am not openly condescending but I am slow in my movements, I speak clearly and loud enough to be heard, I make eye contact, I watch for sudden movement, I recognize the danger, and I act accordingly. This does not preclude screwing with them. I recounted an incident with an Atlanta cop further down the thread.
It really irks them when you can pay the fine and just don't care. What is a civil offense in today's society? Nothing. Nothing at all. I have DOZENS and did very well for myself.
Doesn't Japan insist that their cops have an ADDITIONAL four year degree in something besides being a police officer - like art of history? Don't they still have some districts where they use a barely knotted rope instead of handcuffs because the detainees are already broken mentally and the whole knot and rope thing is a sign of trust?
I had a cop write me up for speeding and tell me to put my cigarette out. I threw it on the ground. He told me to pick it up. I told him he could pick it up and use it as evidence for my littering ticket. He did and I did pay the fines without contesting them.
How I did not get an OUI that night is beyond me. I really should have gone to jail. I was strung right out, almost drooling on myself and driving. Oddly, I was in Georgia at the time. I was on the circle that goes around the city, multi-lane highway - I forgot the route number, and had just shot up (while driving) not long before that.
I never did get an OUI. I never did kill anyone or even have an accident that I was found at fault for. I have pissed off a number of cops but none has beaten me to a pulp yet. I have lots of cop stories but it would take too long to share them all.
I would START with making them leave their deadly weapons (a baton counts as a deadly weapon, especially if you know how to use your P-21) in the vehicle - in the trunk. They can only remove weapons from the trunk as is justified by the situation - each being different. The default is non-lethal weapons. Every time the trunk is opened there will be a mound of paperwork and video.
Then put adequate weapons in the trunk. Equip them with long-arms and shotguns. Give them wooden block, bean bag, shot, and slug weapons. Give them every tool they need to kill a bad guy but make them justify even bringing it out. Give them two different sidearms. Train them to use them all, when to make use of them, and ensure they maintain their training. Hell, give them smoke and concussion grenades. Again, make sure they justify each and every single use - no exceptions.
It is really not that high a risk level to be a police officer. Most are never ever in harm's way for their entire career as I understand it. A tiny percentage fire their weapon. Very few die, per capita.
However, I was enlisted for eight years. I understand the need to use caution - you are willing to die but you are not willing to do so frivolously. This does not mean that cowardice is acceptable to me, however.
I have led an interesting life and I am grateful for it - do not get me wrong. I have had countless run-ins with police - I have spent a number of nights giggling in a jail cell, waiting to bail out at 6:00 in the morning when they let the drunks go if they can say their name and birthday. So, I have some history here. History in multiple countries even.
I can say that I know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that cops are intentionally riling things up. They WANT aggression, it seems. Do not give it to them. One of the worst was I was being told to get on my knees, don't move, put my hands up, and to lay down on the ground at the same time. I'd refused a search of my vehicle and there was no probable cause. I was released a few hours later after the dog showed and never showed anything. The funny part is that I had a bunch of coke hidden under my dashboard.
I have often wondered what would happen if we let reformed criminals work in the criminal justice arena... They might make excellent probation officers or even great policemen. They'd have to be well vetted and I have no idea how to accomplish that. I think their insight might actually make, some of them - obviously not all - potentially good candidates for evenly and fairly enforcing the law while allowing them to be subjective.
I have been wondering this since I was tasked to work at a detention facility while I was enlisted. A motto, on a hand painted sign (or woodburned), stood over the exit from our barracks. It said, "There but by the grace of God, go I." Had any one of us been caught then there was a chance we could have been on the opposite side of the gate. This, and very much this, was the difference between a civilian and military detention facility. It was also very disciplined but the inmates were much more willingly disciplined.
Another interesting thing is that times had changed not much before I entered that area. Not too many years before, I was a chaser and a transport officer - though not an actual officer, where if I had lost my prisoner and had failed to capture them then I was obligated to serve the remainder of their sentence. That time was past when I got there. However, I had zero issues with any inmate ever. Fair but firm, there but by the grace of God, go I.
I believe all cops must get a justice degree in my state. I know that they are allowed to work on the force AND carry a firearm while they are getting that degree but only after a certain amount of hours training as a ride-along. They all go off to a fairly long police academy which should, by rights, be good enough and generally is in my state but we really don't have much crime here.
Alaska is pretty tough for State Troopers. They go to two years of school and are as much forest and wildlife rangers as they are cops. They take their animals seriously and they take their jobs as Troopers seriously. They seem to be, for the most part, very adept and reasonable from an outsider's view. They are similar to what the RCMP was a decade ago. The RCMP has, in my experience, become a haughty and uninformed prick.
Anyhow, they go to the Justice Academy and I think they may even need to get two years of additional education but that may be for sheriffs only or for the State Police? I have a few police officers that are welcome in my home (which often smells like weed and has any one of a number of drugs hanging around in it historically) and can ask for more details but I doubt I will see any of them before the thread is gone from memory.
I live in Maine so the information may be online? It may just be my county and the local forces around me. I believe some were grandfathered and I am pretty sure you can have enough experience to transfer in. I mean, yeah, Maine. I chose to retire here for a reason. Water/energy, crime, taxes, price of land, and my ability to fit in with the natives were my primary concerns - in that order.
If a cop is asking you then chances are you do not need to do it (or answer - in fact, don't answer if you can avoid it). If the cop didn't need to ask then, well, they would not be asking.
I was hanging out on Voat - picking at the low hanging fruit as I am wont to do. Hopefully this will not be a novella but I have to give some background and I think you will find it interesting.
So, I am hanging out on Voat and I have discovered there is a board about protecting and serving and that it is populated by cops. I do not care. I read a thread or two and move alone. It is not my place to hang out. I do not mind cops and they do not want anti-cop people there anyhow and, while I am not a hater of police I am also not a boot licking suck up and have dealt with the cops way too often to have any respect for them as a group - they're people, judge them on their merits.
Anyhow, so later that same day there rises a new thread. This thread was about a police officer in Mississippi (I think? Alabama maybe?) who was shot and the perpetrator was still on the run. I believe the officer had killed.
At this point I think it prudent to remind the audience that I am, indeed, an asshole. I own it.
So, primed and ready with my witty reposte (I have yet to find one single decent international keyboard layout in any Linux distro), I enter the fray. I seek my target - I know exactly what I am going to type and the type of reply that I am aiming to thread it under. I find a gem... Carefully I lay my mine. "So, given the past few weeks and all of the negative police interactions, I am willing to give this alleged cop killer the benefit of the doubt - it may have been self defense."
This is, of course, an instant success with the howler monkeys that visit the site. It also is the truth.
Now, I do not leave mines unattended. That would be irresponsible of me. You could say I was trolling and I would disagree - entirely. I knew what was coming but I did not expect quite this level of perfection. Also, note, these are not exact quotes. They are probably pretty close.
So in pops a user who says, "The filthy violent perp killed a cop." I recognize the username - it is one of the mods and a police officer (ostensibly) in a large metropolitan area.
I reply with, "Isn't a cop supposed to do that whole innocent until proven guilty thing???" I felt the line tighten and it was reeling out fast.
"It doesn't matter. He killed a cop. Can't you see the difference?" He replied... He liked ellipsis too, or he did in my head.
"Is it not still innocent until proven guilty?" I asked again. "Could you show me where the law makes this any different?"
"You just don't kill cops. This guy is a scum sucking low life." He quipped.
"Do you not see how you, personally, are to blame for the reaction that caused this officer to die? You, your attitude, has an impact and that impact spreads. You should be ashamed of yourself!" I slapped my drag lock off and pulled back with a good, hard, and steady force.
He went ape shit. It was absolutely beautiful. I would not call it trolling but, well, if it is to be defined as trolling then let's say it was at least artful and productive. Much karma was had (and lost). Sadly, I do not think anything in the above is biased or misrepresents what happened. I tried to recall it as best as I could and I am far too lazy to look for it and then type it all out again.
As an aside, I was watching a video of a Southern gentleman refusing to allow the police access to his home because they did not have a warrant. They said he looked nervous and he replied with the greatest YouTube line ever. "Y'all got a whole toolbelt designed to kill me, of course's I'm scared!" (Said in a drawl.)
TL;DR: The cops are the problem. Their whole attitude. I could go on for hours about the difference between cops today and yesterday AND I grew up in the Civil Rights Era. I am not saying fuck cops. I am saying fuck THAT cop.
They were pretty happy with the Harrier 2. They seem just to like poking at the new toy - and I do not blame them one iota. It's what they do - it is what they need to do what they do. Hopefully it works out well.
I was thinking more on the lines of the traditional cannon. I do not actually know if the SU-27 carries one but it can likely mount some at a hard point.
In Linux? Your wireless controller will work if you have the DVORAK international (with null keys) keyboard layout and only then. You will then proceed to learn the new keyboard layout because, fuck it, that's why! It will be mysteriously fixed in a new version but you won't know and you will decry all those who do not use that keyboard layout. And you will feel good about it.
Give it a shot. Worst case is you break something and have to fix it. Oh no! Not like we haven't done that before. You might even learn something new. It may not be valuable but it has it's finer points.
Slashdot Mirror
I knew exactly what that would be when I clicked and, sure enough, it was. Thanks for the memories... Conjunction junction, what's your function?
Is your life that boring and meaningless? I know you think you're trolling and all but, no... I am afraid you don't get to rustle my jimmies because I can just point out that you're not that bright and be done or I can keep pointing it out and you keep coming back to amuse me. Which, really, has snared the other?
Pfft... We'll get a research institute or government funding. We're recycling phones for nature.
Thank you for the well done response, seriously.
Excellent. You found two. Out of how many? Those are really small odds. Do you know how many rounds are fired at a range that do not go into innocent women and children? No, I admit, it is a tragic thing when it does happen. It is hardly the norm.
I find it best to treat them, mostly, like big dumb animals. I am not openly condescending but I am slow in my movements, I speak clearly and loud enough to be heard, I make eye contact, I watch for sudden movement, I recognize the danger, and I act accordingly. This does not preclude screwing with them. I recounted an incident with an Atlanta cop further down the thread.
It really irks them when you can pay the fine and just don't care. What is a civil offense in today's society? Nothing. Nothing at all. I have DOZENS and did very well for myself.
Your link indicates that was an accident. How is that a crime and disproving what they said?
Doesn't Japan insist that their cops have an ADDITIONAL four year degree in something besides being a police officer - like art of history? Don't they still have some districts where they use a barely knotted rope instead of handcuffs because the detainees are already broken mentally and the whole knot and rope thing is a sign of trust?
They will be eaten for lunch in the 'hood.
I had a cop write me up for speeding and tell me to put my cigarette out. I threw it on the ground. He told me to pick it up. I told him he could pick it up and use it as evidence for my littering ticket. He did and I did pay the fines without contesting them.
How I did not get an OUI that night is beyond me. I really should have gone to jail. I was strung right out, almost drooling on myself and driving. Oddly, I was in Georgia at the time. I was on the circle that goes around the city, multi-lane highway - I forgot the route number, and had just shot up (while driving) not long before that.
I never did get an OUI. I never did kill anyone or even have an accident that I was found at fault for. I have pissed off a number of cops but none has beaten me to a pulp yet. I have lots of cop stories but it would take too long to share them all.
I would START with making them leave their deadly weapons (a baton counts as a deadly weapon, especially if you know how to use your P-21) in the vehicle - in the trunk. They can only remove weapons from the trunk as is justified by the situation - each being different. The default is non-lethal weapons. Every time the trunk is opened there will be a mound of paperwork and video.
Then put adequate weapons in the trunk. Equip them with long-arms and shotguns. Give them wooden block, bean bag, shot, and slug weapons. Give them every tool they need to kill a bad guy but make them justify even bringing it out. Give them two different sidearms. Train them to use them all, when to make use of them, and ensure they maintain their training. Hell, give them smoke and concussion grenades. Again, make sure they justify each and every single use - no exceptions.
Maybe we can start there?
It is really not that high a risk level to be a police officer. Most are never ever in harm's way for their entire career as I understand it. A tiny percentage fire their weapon. Very few die, per capita.
However, I was enlisted for eight years. I understand the need to use caution - you are willing to die but you are not willing to do so frivolously. This does not mean that cowardice is acceptable to me, however.
I have led an interesting life and I am grateful for it - do not get me wrong. I have had countless run-ins with police - I have spent a number of nights giggling in a jail cell, waiting to bail out at 6:00 in the morning when they let the drunks go if they can say their name and birthday. So, I have some history here. History in multiple countries even.
I can say that I know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that cops are intentionally riling things up. They WANT aggression, it seems. Do not give it to them. One of the worst was I was being told to get on my knees, don't move, put my hands up, and to lay down on the ground at the same time. I'd refused a search of my vehicle and there was no probable cause. I was released a few hours later after the dog showed and never showed anything. The funny part is that I had a bunch of coke hidden under my dashboard.
We will just end up with the Wal*Mart of police. :(
I have often wondered what would happen if we let reformed criminals work in the criminal justice arena... They might make excellent probation officers or even great policemen. They'd have to be well vetted and I have no idea how to accomplish that. I think their insight might actually make, some of them - obviously not all - potentially good candidates for evenly and fairly enforcing the law while allowing them to be subjective.
I have been wondering this since I was tasked to work at a detention facility while I was enlisted. A motto, on a hand painted sign (or woodburned), stood over the exit from our barracks. It said, "There but by the grace of God, go I." Had any one of us been caught then there was a chance we could have been on the opposite side of the gate. This, and very much this, was the difference between a civilian and military detention facility. It was also very disciplined but the inmates were much more willingly disciplined.
Another interesting thing is that times had changed not much before I entered that area. Not too many years before, I was a chaser and a transport officer - though not an actual officer, where if I had lost my prisoner and had failed to capture them then I was obligated to serve the remainder of their sentence. That time was past when I got there. However, I had zero issues with any inmate ever. Fair but firm, there but by the grace of God, go I.
I believe all cops must get a justice degree in my state. I know that they are allowed to work on the force AND carry a firearm while they are getting that degree but only after a certain amount of hours training as a ride-along. They all go off to a fairly long police academy which should, by rights, be good enough and generally is in my state but we really don't have much crime here.
Alaska is pretty tough for State Troopers. They go to two years of school and are as much forest and wildlife rangers as they are cops. They take their animals seriously and they take their jobs as Troopers seriously. They seem to be, for the most part, very adept and reasonable from an outsider's view. They are similar to what the RCMP was a decade ago. The RCMP has, in my experience, become a haughty and uninformed prick.
Anyhow, they go to the Justice Academy and I think they may even need to get two years of additional education but that may be for sheriffs only or for the State Police? I have a few police officers that are welcome in my home (which often smells like weed and has any one of a number of drugs hanging around in it historically) and can ask for more details but I doubt I will see any of them before the thread is gone from memory.
I live in Maine so the information may be online? It may just be my county and the local forces around me. I believe some were grandfathered and I am pretty sure you can have enough experience to transfer in. I mean, yeah, Maine. I chose to retire here for a reason. Water/energy, crime, taxes, price of land, and my ability to fit in with the natives were my primary concerns - in that order.
Name one other occupation that arm's their "idiots" with weapons.
The military. The smart ones don't end up carrying the guns, you know.
*was, literally, 0311 for most of his first stint* (It was actually what I had requested.)
I can fill in on that but I will spare you the novella.
If a cop is asking you then chances are you do not need to do it (or answer - in fact, don't answer if you can avoid it). If the cop didn't need to ask then, well, they would not be asking.
I was hanging out on Voat - picking at the low hanging fruit as I am wont to do. Hopefully this will not be a novella but I have to give some background and I think you will find it interesting.
So, I am hanging out on Voat and I have discovered there is a board about protecting and serving and that it is populated by cops. I do not care. I read a thread or two and move alone. It is not my place to hang out. I do not mind cops and they do not want anti-cop people there anyhow and, while I am not a hater of police I am also not a boot licking suck up and have dealt with the cops way too often to have any respect for them as a group - they're people, judge them on their merits.
Anyhow, so later that same day there rises a new thread. This thread was about a police officer in Mississippi (I think? Alabama maybe?) who was shot and the perpetrator was still on the run. I believe the officer had killed.
At this point I think it prudent to remind the audience that I am, indeed, an asshole. I own it.
So, primed and ready with my witty reposte (I have yet to find one single decent international keyboard layout in any Linux distro), I enter the fray. I seek my target - I know exactly what I am going to type and the type of reply that I am aiming to thread it under. I find a gem... Carefully I lay my mine. "So, given the past few weeks and all of the negative police interactions, I am willing to give this alleged cop killer the benefit of the doubt - it may have been self defense."
This is, of course, an instant success with the howler monkeys that visit the site. It also is the truth.
Now, I do not leave mines unattended. That would be irresponsible of me. You could say I was trolling and I would disagree - entirely. I knew what was coming but I did not expect quite this level of perfection. Also, note, these are not exact quotes. They are probably pretty close.
So in pops a user who says, "The filthy violent perp killed a cop." I recognize the username - it is one of the mods and a police officer (ostensibly) in a large metropolitan area.
I reply with, "Isn't a cop supposed to do that whole innocent until proven guilty thing???" I felt the line tighten and it was reeling out fast.
"It doesn't matter. He killed a cop. Can't you see the difference?" He replied... He liked ellipsis too, or he did in my head.
"Is it not still innocent until proven guilty?" I asked again. "Could you show me where the law makes this any different?"
"You just don't kill cops. This guy is a scum sucking low life." He quipped.
"Do you not see how you, personally, are to blame for the reaction that caused this officer to die? You, your attitude, has an impact and that impact spreads. You should be ashamed of yourself!" I slapped my drag lock off and pulled back with a good, hard, and steady force.
He went ape shit. It was absolutely beautiful. I would not call it trolling but, well, if it is to be defined as trolling then let's say it was at least artful and productive. Much karma was had (and lost). Sadly, I do not think anything in the above is biased or misrepresents what happened. I tried to recall it as best as I could and I am far too lazy to look for it and then type it all out again.
As an aside, I was watching a video of a Southern gentleman refusing to allow the police access to his home because they did not have a warrant. They said he looked nervous and he replied with the greatest YouTube line ever. "Y'all got a whole toolbelt designed to kill me, of course's I'm scared!" (Said in a drawl.)
TL;DR: The cops are the problem. Their whole attitude. I could go on for hours about the difference between cops today and yesterday AND I grew up in the Civil Rights Era. I am not saying fuck cops. I am saying fuck THAT cop.
I am not even sure that drones killed anything more than a single percentage point?
That's alright, we have a pile of stupid people. We'll just go the other way around.
Oh I have it envisioned as a last ditch effort by a crazed Soviet. It is beautiful in my head and I dare not sully it with the physics.
Thank you. I figured I had to be missing something.
Well, the US has certainly killed more enemy than they have lost in all of those military actions.
They were pretty happy with the Harrier 2. They seem just to like poking at the new toy - and I do not blame them one iota. It's what they do - it is what they need to do what they do. Hopefully it works out well.
I was thinking more on the lines of the traditional cannon. I do not actually know if the SU-27 carries one but it can likely mount some at a hard point.
In Linux? Your wireless controller will work if you have the DVORAK international (with null keys) keyboard layout and only then. You will then proceed to learn the new keyboard layout because, fuck it, that's why! It will be mysteriously fixed in a new version but you won't know and you will decry all those who do not use that keyboard layout. And you will feel good about it.
Give it a shot. Worst case is you break something and have to fix it. Oh no! Not like we haven't done that before. You might even learn something new. It may not be valuable but it has it's finer points.