This has got to stop. All this awful stuff.

[MannyGoldstein]

What have we done?

I was surfing the net during a break at the office today and saw a story again that we're all familiar with: Kelly Thomas, a young homeless man with schizophrenia was beaten to death in Fullerton CA. An explosion of horror and terror as he apologized and screamed for the help of his father, who was not at the scene but was in Kelly's heart as his splintered thoughts were methodically snuffed out by the powerful blows of savages. Beaten and tased in the face for nearly ten minutes.

A mentally ill man, not being violent, beaten to death for ten minutes while apologizing and screaming for his daddy.

His executioners, Fullerton Police Department officers Manuel Ramos, Jay Cicinelli, Joseph Wolfe are now free men.

I see these things in the media every day, and have become hardened to them. But today, reading this again I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the evil that we can do to each other. I broke down.

A mentally ill man, not being violent, beaten to death for ten minutes while apologizing and screaming for daddy.

What have we become that we do these things to each other? How do we open hearts?

I guess this was Dr. King's expertise. Perhaps I need to do some studying.

[Initech]

1. I'm about to go watch Fruitvale Station.

Think the Kelly Thomas story is fucked up? Wait until you see this movie and Oscar Grant's.

[davidpdx]

25. The movie was very good

I've been out of the US for a decade, so I only read briefly about what happened. The news sources are limited, so I end up missing a lot.

[Jesus Malverde]

44. Oscar Grant wasn't tortured like this guy, they had thomas begging for daddy as they

Beat him to death. Oscars case was tragic/bizarre but seems more of an accident then this one

[cliffordu]

87. Really? That's what you are taking away

From these two incidents?

That one was worse than the other?

Well, bless your little heart.

[cui bono]

90. That poster was simply responding to the other person who compared the two

and stated that Oscar's was worse and adding to that with his/her opinion.

No need for snark. WTF is wrong with this site? Just a microcosm of what the OP is talking about I guess. What have we become/how we treat each other these days...

[Jesus Malverde]

98. Thanks, I wasn't sure what to make of his post

I assume I rubbed him the wrong way in another thread...

Peace

[kickysnana]

2. Has to stop, seconded.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

3. We should also be asking "what have we become that we allow them to get away with it?" nt

[LuvNewcastle]

31. I agree. I think that's the most important point.

People who are employed by our taxes and are supposed to be protecting and serving us are murdering defenseless people. And that's what it is: murder, plain and simple.

If some bastard attacked an old lady on the street and beat her to death with a stick while she was screaming for her husband, we'd be outraged. We'd want the bastard executed. But because these scumbags have badges, we ignore it. That is the really fucked up part.

Everybody ignores this murder because the killers have badges and the victim was a 'crazy' homeless guy. He was a throwaway person. Just a piece of garbage for these demented killers to play with. Let's just let these murderers kill all the throwaway people and put the bodies in dumpsters. They're nothing, no good to society. This is who we are.

[Enthusiast]

37. Inching ever closer to that NAZI ideal where people actually are nothing

and their lives are of no value. The language of the right we hear from Fox "News" and Limbaugh differs little from that heard in 1930s Germany and only in the matter of degree. Those that don't work are clearly moochers (useless eaters), while the nation spends an obscene amount on military adventurism.

[LuvNewcastle]

39. I agree. If the bottom really falls out of the economy and there's civil unrest,

I see a dictator coming along, promising to fix everything and provide for our needs and give us order. We already have the structure in place to intimidate everyone and force everyone to fit the mold. It would be so easy to go full-blown Nazi considering all the toys the government has at its disposal. Spying and drones and a ruthless police/military force can easily make people conform.

[Progressive dog]

43. Actually, three police were arrested and two tried,

both were acquitted. Read what actually happened on Wikipedia.
The law worked and the jury apparently saw reasonable doubt.

[MannyGoldstein]

45. Do you see a problem here?

Thanks in advance.

[Progressive dog]

49. Yes I do, the use of Nazi to attack our constitutional

right to a trial I see as a problem. The actions of twelve jurors being blamed on our system of government is a problem.

[MannyGoldstein]

54. Do you see a problem with the beating and death? nt

[Progressive dog]

60. Yeah I do, but there are lots of bad deeds that go unpunished

under any system of government. You did notice that I didn't reply to you but to what was made of your post by the guy who cried NAZI. I hope you are not defending him.
This was a local police force, not federal. The officers were charged with various degrees of murder. Some of the city government were recalled by the voters over this. The FBI helped with the investigation at the request of the DA.

[MannyGoldstein]

65. The Nazis, too, had an intact judiciary until 1942 IIRC

While we are not nearly at the level of Nazi Germany, and hopefully will never be, Enthusiast's point - that we are drawing closer to where they were - is not invalid, I think. Germany went from being the most Liberal country in Europe to the Nazi state in a very short time - it can happen here too.

[Progressive dog]

72. The Nazis had Nazi laws,

and we don't.

On the 26 November 1935, the laws were extended to "Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring".[4][5]

Germans knew where Hitler and his party stood and still made him chancellor. That doesn't sound liberal to me.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

80. Before the Germany had Nazi laws, they didn't.

[Progressive dog]

81. Oh my you figured that out all by yourself

and so you, in your great wisdom, can explain where those laws came from.
Hint-they didn't come from a jury trial in Fullerton, CA. or from any trial in Germany.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

83. Oh my, you're stooping to ad hominem attack. Game over.

[MannyGoldstein]

89. And juries dutifully followed those Nazi laws.

I think we can both agree that something is wrong when what happens in that videotape happens, and the attackers walk away unpunished. If the jury was following laws, then they are bad, bad laws. Not Nazi laws, but perhaps ALEC laws. Certainly not the kinds of laws that civilized people have.

[Progressive dog]

111. We can both agree that something was wrong,

at least by the video.
The jurors based the acquittal on

The coroner's office said that Thomas died from brain damage caused by his beating by police—he wasn't able to get enough oxygen because police compressed his chest. But the defense hired an expert who said that officers actually didn't use enough force and that his death was caused by a heart weakened by drug use.

which is a disagreement on the facts, not on the law. The jury believed the defense rather than the prosecution.
Until we become omniscient, there will be mistakes made. The idea is to hold them to a minimum.

[reACTIONary]

101. +10 (nt)

[damnedifIknow]

46. Reasonable doubt?

[Progressive dog]

50. The jurors acquitted, no retrials under our laws

not new laws, not nazi laws-ancient laws. Unanimous verdict, not a hung jury.

[MannyGoldstein]

55. Could be re-tried on new charges

Say, federal civil-rights violations, as was done in the South in the 1960s to right unjust verdicts.

[Progressive dog]

58. That night be possible

but it has seldom been done. It would probably require proving that the cops knew the victim was mentally ill.

[sulphurdunn]

75. I read it. I also saw the video of the murder.

Yes... the cops were acquitted. There is no argument that the verdict was legal, but it was not just. A corrupt judiciary is still a legal judiciary. One should not conflate legal process with justice.

[Progressive dog]

78. One should not conflate Nazism with a bad verdict

What evidence do you have of a corrupt judiciary? A court refused to dismiss charges, the appeals court upheld the lower court. They were tried and acquitted BY A JURY OF THEIR PEERS. A unanimous verdict of a jury, not by a judge.
Your problem is not with the judiciary but twelve out of twelve citizens who heard all the evidence and disagree with you.

[sulphurdunn]

91. I live in America

and have had many dealings with the judiciary, and it is corrupt. Evidence? What would be your standard for evidence? Do you suppose if 6 street people beat a cop to death on film that any of them would be acquitted? Do you think they would be represented by a jury of their peers? What the hell exactly is "a jury of ones peers?" Regardless, you did not address the question. Is the purpose of the judiciary to ensure precedent and process or to administer justice, regardless of whether by judges or juries? The correct answer is that process approximates justice, and that is the best that can be done. Process is concrete, justice is abstract, but if I know it when I see it, so should a judge or 12 jurors. Obviously, they didn't in this case, anymore than in the OJ Simpson case or other cases to numerous to mention. Furthermore, I never conflated Naziism with our judiciary, please don't accuse me of it.

[Progressive dog]

106. You defended the Nazi statement in the post I replied to

If you didn't intend to defend the Nazi claims, you could just say so.
With all your experience with the corrupt judiciary, you don't know what a "jury of you peers" is. I can't claim your extensive experience with the judiciaries in all the different states, but I have heard about this jury of your peers stuff. Lots of us even get called for jury pools. In NY, they even have juries in justice court.
This is the definition from Beverly Rice at legalzoom "the jury pool must include a cross section of the population of the community in terms of gender, race, and national origin. The jury selection process must not exclude or intentionally narrow any particular group of people."

[cui bono]

93. The cops in the Rodney King beating were acquitted too. You really think they were innocent?

OJ... all the convicted people who are now being released since DNA tests find they were innocent all along. There's your evidence.

It's corrupt because it doesn't work to bring "justice". Just because the cops were tried and acquitted by a jury of their peers doesn't mean the system works. It doesn't. It's quite obvious.

In another area.... Exxon doesn't pay any taxes. Is that just? No, it isn't, but it's legal. Our tax system is corrupt as well.

[Progressive dog]

107. They should just use you as the jury in all cases

and then the cases would always be decided correctly. You'd take care of that justice stuff.
No one is perfect, not even you.
We have a system of government that allows us to elect the people who write our laws, that gives us the right to a jury trial.

[cui bono]

112. Well they'd certainly get a fair verdict if that were the case.

But that's not what I was saying and you know that.

If you're going to be disingenuous in the discussion then there's no point in continuing.

[Progressive dog]

115. It is exactly what you have been saying

You just take a lot of verbiage to get there.

[reACTIONary]

99. +10 (nt)

[reACTIONary]

100. +10 (nt)

[rhett o rick]

109. It only "works" for the authoritarians that get off on police violence.

The man was beaten and tortured to death for nothing and the prosecutor was soo terrible that the jury let them off.

Beating and torturing innocent civilian to death is terrorism at it's finest and you approve.

I think you have "progressive" in your screen name only to mock true progressives.

[Progressive dog]

110. So you would overturn the jury, because you know better

Then you again set up your straw man argument. I approve of our justice system. Being an adult and a realist, I have yet to see a system that doesn't make mistakes. Mistakes do not Nazis make.
If you think that progressive means overturning and attacking our system of justice and government, you are not only wrong, you are delusional. I would be ashamed to be what you thunk of as progressive.

[ctsnowman]

61. I agree and there are posts in this thread that will support it.

The system worked just fine.

[damnedifIknow]

4. It's beyond

It's just beyond that this sadistic torture of a homeless man happened in the first place but now the animals that did this roam free. I'm just disgusted this is so fucked up.

[Mnemosyne]

5. Manny,

some days I want to lose my mind, it is so overwhelming. But reading at DU reminds me that there are many good people that still give a damn.

It keeps me going in a very, very red corner of PA.

Hang in there. You are needed.

[sammythecat]

56. I'm in the very, very, red middle of PA (the twilight zone).

I hear what you're saying. Often it seems like this is the closest I get to real live people that seem to have a grasp on reality. "A stranger in a strange land" is how I feel much of the time.

[Mnemosyne]

114. I've become almost a recluse to avoid the meanness. I grok you.

[daleanime]

6. ........

[WorseBeforeBetter]

7. Dear God, I just looked at the photos.

I feel sick.

?width=721

Rest in peace, Mr. Thomas. And yes, this has got to stop.

[rhett o rick]

15. Those that were involved in letting the police off on this, may they all rot in hell. nm

[Enthusiast]

105. + a shit load! nt

[ananda]

35. Oh God that's so sad!

Just so sad... cry.

[Demo_Chris]

8. President Obama asked if we want a society in which we are all in this alone...

The answer, sadly, is yes. Not our words, we say the opposite, but in our actions we can see the truth. We are a basically a nation of sociopaths, then when we see the results written in blood we act surprised.

[DeSwiss]

9. It will stop.....

...when we've said: ''Enough!''

- And not a moment sooner.

K&R

[pscot]

10. I share your agony, Manny

We didn't used to be this way.

[defacto7]

27. I believe you are absolutely right.

We didn't used to be this way.

[OnlinePoker]

88. When didn't we used to be this way?

Cops have been beating the crap out of people in the U.S. at least since the 1800s, particularly in large urban centers with transient populations that didn't have a voice. They could get away with it because there was no oversight and the blue wall protected its own. Now, with the advent of phones that can record everything the cops do on the street, these cases come to light far more often and we hear about them and are disgusted.

[loudsue]

11. Thanks for posting this, Manny. And thank you for your outrage, which I share 100%

We have to figure out a way to stop this shit. It's just got to stop.

[davidthegnome]

12. I watched the video - I wish I hadnt.

There aren't words. All of those men who were there, who took part in beating that man... sick. Not one of them said, "Hey... okay guys, let's back off, I think he's hurt pretty bad." Not one of them had a level enough head, or a compassionate enough heart, to tell them to back the fuck off. I can't believe the number of times they tased him. He even told them, many times, that he could not breathe.

Those cops are fucking pigs - without exception. They should be spending many years in prison. These are trained officers of the law? These are the kind of people we rely on for protection? Sick. Beyond sick.

I really don't know what to say to this one Manny. It's a sign of just how sick some people can be - and I'm not even talking about the man with the real mental illness.

[Stonepounder]

13. I was thinking about this today.

What will it take to shock the conscience of this nation?

Kelly Thomas
Fruitvale Station
Columbine
Sandy Hook
Gabby Giffords
Unmanned Drones
Freedom Chemicals

What will it take to shock the conscience of the nation and make us rise up and say 'ENOUGH!' Or is it just too late?

[rhett o rick]

14. When I saw that video I thought what the hell has our society come to that we accept that

behavior. We accept that behavior as a society. Our police are out of control.

[Samantha]

16. Incomprehensible

I have no words.

Sam

[PowerToThePeople]

17. Death Squad

Edit - video link removed.

[mountain grammy]

18. The officers were aquitted because "they were doing what they were trained to do"

My God!! I feel the juries are guilty of aiding and abetting police action against American citizens.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

19. There is much blame to go around here. The prosecutors managed to elicit false testimony . . .

from what I've gathered in local coverage. Elicit testimony that was accusatory of Kelly Thomas of looting, which apparently was not the case as the story broke. Only after witnesses were brought in for questioning and then testified. Who'd prosecute the prosecution?

http://www.orangejuiceblog.com/tag/kelly-thomas/

From Trayvon Martin to OJ Simpson and beyond, there is a hand in glove form of corruption in some cities dealing with renegade police and those in the justice department willing to do whatever is necessary for an acquittal.

Possibly the FBI can root out the dirty dealings in all this.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/14/us-usa-beating-police-idUSBREA0D1FA20140114

[SleeplessinSoCal]

97. The "Voice of OC" is the best source for news about this case and others.

Councilman Alleges Cover-up in Kelly Thomas Beating

http://www.voiceofoc.org/youtube_522bc4ee-fac4-11e0-9fe4-001cc4c002e0.html

[sabrina 1]

20. As long as we defend torture and war and drone killings and call dead children

'necessary collateral damage' for our security, it won't stop. We live in a culture of violence and anyone who in any way supports torture, by trying to explain it, by trying to explain why we should move on and forget crimes like that, is complicit, guilty and a part of it.

All we can do is to oppose all of it no matter how unpopular (imagine having to say that) it may be. At least our consciences can be alleviated somewhat I suppose if we constantly speak out against it.

[2naSalit]

21. So something comes to mind here which

I am sure will be upsetting to some but I have to say it because I have never said this to anyone before.

I don't watch TeeVee and so I am not regularly exposed to the violent entertainment that is all the rage these days. But once in a while I happen to be someplace where there is a TeeVee on and I can gauge how bad things are out there in our world. This goes back a few years but I distinctly recall at one point in year five or six of the Iraq war I saw some show, news or a documentary or some "special report", what I saw was appalling. I saw our military personnel kicking in the doors of civilians' home in the middle of the night and the inhabitants being treated in such a way that I was horrified, at how they rifle butted anyone who questioned them... they insisted that the male of the house was a bad guy and took him away after a few brutal blows that landed him on the floor and they hand cuffed him and put a hood over his head while the women and children cried. Interviewed the next day the military guys shrugged it off and said "That's our job, we have to show these guys who's in control. Someday they'll see what good we are doing for them." Winning hearts and minds?

And at the same time I realized that those same military people were also now trained to do this no matter where they were. I also knew that they were going to come back here to the US and take jobs as police and LEOs in our local, federal and state agencies, and this is what they are trained to do. The killing of whomever it is does not matter to them after a point, they were taught that the bad guy gets it, period.

This is what we have now and it won't stop until we can convince these people to stop their violence. I once met a prison guard out on the road in a western state who worked at a supermax prison. We chatted at a fuel stop and the take home message I got from that guy was what he said about his job... "Yeah, we get to rock and roll and get paid for it! I love it." So this told me that these guys love their violence, it generates an adrenaline flow which IS a drug, and there's a lot of our fellow citizens who are now hooked on it. There were quite a few before we started our recent wars but now we've got LOTS of them, and they get jobs as cops, and this is what they do, and get paid to do it, and they get away with killing innocent people.

Somehow our country has to get it together with detox of destructive addictions of this kind.

[truedelphi]

28. People who have owned and listened to police scanners report that

When one squad of police find a mentally ill individual, whom they feel they can charge with something,then they call in for backup.

Many people work at hoes for developmentally disadvantaged. And the people might not be the sharpest tack in the room, IQ wise, but they are often easy to deal with, if you simply treat them with as though you and they are human.

I agree with everything you were saying about TV and the violence levels. And also everything you say about the violent way our troops were trained, to be absolute predators against the people of Iraq.

[Locrian]

36. I think you pretty much nailed it

This is the sorry side of what you get when you worship power and authority. This is what you sink to when you create a culture that glorifies violence and the 'strong' taking from the weak. Be it war, economic, police, whatever.

It won't stop until we change the system and the people in it.

[KoKo]

48. Good points... the media and glorification of our "wars."

I saw a report on RT America about the incidents of police brutality escalating and the horrific beating this OP is about. One of the people they interviewed said that the Police Brutality comes from the Top Down. It's the kind of people they are hiring for police officers and that new rules need to be put into place on hiring.

I would think that should also apply for the Police Commissioners who do the hiring in the first pace. Remember Ray Kelly in NY....and his replacement is now coming from LA (I think) and he had already worked in NYC and is supposed to be as bad as Ray Kelly was.

And, that we have these military people who were trained to kill and the attitude of the RW'ers and Limbaugh listeners who love violence and "tough guy" imagery.

I gave up on MSM...but, it's hard not to catch it when one turns on local news and the coverage is there of these horrific examples of police gone rogue. And, I can't deal with violent enfotainment and those lock up police shows and the rest. That all has a way of desensitizing those who watch. And, even little kids grow up watching that stuff. So...the media does have a big part in all of this. They are happy with Chertoff Group and the Military/Media/Industrial Complex. It brings in money and advertisments and that's what it's all about these days.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

57. .

.

[Ken Burch]

22. This is proof, once again, that "liberal" politicians must NEVER appease the "law & order" crowd.

Every time they do, the conditions for situations like this are created.

It's better to LOSE an election and then fight from outside against the forces of repression. Nobody elected or re-elected by pandering to the "tough on crime" fetishists is even ever able to use whatever tiny semblance of power they preserve through the pandering to make do anything worthwhile with it.

The answer is to fight on, hold to what you stand for, and appeal to "the better angels of our nature". Once you get your hands dirty on this issue, you can never get them clean again.

[jsr]

41. +1.

[YoungDemCA]

84. Meanwhile the War on Drugs continues...

How bout them drone strikes, eh?

[markpkessinger]

23. And on Sunday in NYC, there was this . . .

[font size=4]Elderly man beaten bloody by police during New York City jaywalking arrest[/font]
[font size=1]By Travis Gettys
Monday, January 20, 2014 8:16 EST[/font]


An elderly man was hospitalized Sunday evening after he was beaten by police who stopped him for jaywalking.

The New York Post reported that 84-year-old Kang Wong crossed 96th Street against the light about 5 p.m. as he walked north on Broadway, and an officer ordered him to stop.

But Wong, who lives a block away, didn’t seem to understand the officer, according to witnesses.

“The guy didn’t seem to speak English,” said witness Ian King, 24, a Fordham University law student.

< . . . >

[MannyGoldstein]

40. Didn't speak English... maybe he had it coming?

(Didn't watch Fox News... maybe we had it coming?)

[markpkessinger]

92. I am fairly disgustsed with DeBlasio's response . . .

. . . which was to decline to comment on the beating, but to defend th crackdown on jaywalking. I mean, he could defend the jaywalking enforcement while speaking out against police abuse!

[cui bono]

94. Since when do they care about jaywalking in NYC???

Oh, he's Asian... Hm...

[Ilsa]

95. Or maybe his hearing is poor or has deficits.

Beating someone for jaywalking? Assholes.

[woo me with science]

24. Thank you, Manny.

Just thank you.

[davidpdx]

26. +1

One has to ask themselves how many cases like this we don't hear about. I'd guess quite a few.

[defacto7]

29. ...

[bananas]

30. k&r nt

[sorefeet]

32. We are Frogs in a frying pan people

this didn't happen overnight. Just like Many said, we are hardened now. What will the next generations bring??? The human life span is too short to accomplish faster reforms. Like the drug war, after 70 years of lying propaganda, the indoctrinated public are waking up. But that is a whole wasted life span of lies. The judge and the jury are also criminals in this case there should be a retrial. If this happened to my child their would be a whole different story to tell.

[Enthusiast]

33. savages

[Enthusiast]

34. Recommended X 1000!

Brown shirts.

[theHandpuppet]

38. How many times?

How many times will we open the paper or turn on the TV and hear yet another case like this? Moreover, what the hell can be done? Do we really expect the court system to bring "law enforcement" to justice in these cases? We've seen that just won't happen. Are we powerless to reverse course in this country?

[Blanks]

42. Rodney King...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King
I remember when the video for his beating was shown and analyzed on TV over and over again.

If I'm not mistaken - those police officers walked. Obviously he (Rodney King) wasn't an angel, but there is the concept of 'minimum necessary force.' Any time a law enforcement officer is suspected of over-stepping this minimum - they should be evaluated for violent tendencies.

[Auggie]

47. It's rule by oligarchy ...

Those in power … the well-connected / wealthy … don't give a crap about anything outside their circles. This negligence allows for heinous behavior to surface in public servants likes Ramos, Cicinelli and Wolfe. It's nothing new. Only an engaged electorate can stop it.

[Glassunion]

51. I think we get angry and struggle because there is a belief that we live in a civilized society

We do not. We never have.

[L0oniX]

53. The veneer of society is very thin.

It doesn't take much to pull down the facade.

[handmade34]

71. you are correct...

[LibDemAlways]

52. The jurors who let the cops walk

are guilty, too. This was an Orange County jury I'm suspecting had no use for the homeless man, just like the Simi Valley jury that acquitted the cops in the Rodney King case had no use for the black guy. An LA jury in the jurisdiction where the King beating actually occurred might have reached a very different verdict. The case was moved to Ventura County where the jury was much more likely to excuse the cops behavior -and did. As an old friend used to frequently proclaim, there is no justice.

[Laxman]

67. Not Having Observed The Case Personally...

my assessment is speculative. However, in many of these cases the prosecution goes through the charade of a trial and puts on a show just good enough to get by. However, the real intent is to tank the case in any of a thousand different ways, a la Sleepers, only with the intent of protecting the cops, not achieving justice. Having been a prosecutor, I know how easy it would be to do just this.

[dreamnightwind]

70. Yes

The prosecutors normally work WITH the police to try people the police arrest, isn't that correct?

It seems to me that they should require that outside prosecutors try all cases of police abuse. I would think a prosecutor would be in a very tough spot aggressively going after members of the same police department he/she works with as part of their normal job duties.

I don't know much about this, is that the way it works, does a prosecutor in fact have a working relationship with the police? You're a former prosecutor, so you would know. If so, wouldn't they be worried about jeopardizing that relationship when prosecuting police actions?

[Laxman]

82. Yes They Would...

Personal feelings, professional relationships or even protecting other prosecutions that these cops were involved in are all possible reasons for tanking the prosecution. You would never know for sure. I just didn't do a good job, I made a mistake, the jury just didn't buy it-all plausible alibis.

[dreamnightwind]

103. Yes, I get the part about the excuses

They would have a lot of ways to not do too good of a job when prosecuting a cop. Thanks for the info. Seems like a system with no meaningful checks and balances on the powerful.

[taught_me_patience]

59. We are a violent culture

and this is just another symptom of the disease. We perpetuate war across the globe, rain death upon innocent civilians from 10,000 feet, purchase million of guns/year... etc. I'm not suprised a jury accquitted these savages.

It makes me sick, depressed, and disappointed.

[damnedifIknow]

62. Father, Protesters Speak Out Against Not Guilty Verdicts

&hd=1

[MannyGoldstein]

66. Thank you - good to know there is some action. nt

[adirondacker]

63. Don't worry, The Wall Street gang will take care of the homeless...

[WillyT]

64. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[Rex]

68. It is obvious they are trying to kill him if you watch/listen to the video.

We are a nation ruled by terror from our own law enforcement, intimidation and bullying by politicians and outright corruption that seems to be less important than beating a homeless man to death.

[Zorra]

69. School's out, brother, lessons are over for now. It's time for those who really care to assume our

responsibilities in the real world.


Above: The 99%, protesting for Justice and Equality.

Ya know, I'm just a regular old 99%er, one who seems to have some type of very serious personal communication deficiency.

So I'm hoping that, maybe, just maybe, more people might pay attention to this 99%er, who was right there with Dr. King, talking the talk, and leading the walk, explaining it all again, and doing it again.

On edit: A final review of a very important lesson from Dr. King's excellent class, "How To Change The World Through Non-Violence".

You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored. My citing the creation of tension as part of the work of the nonviolent resister may sound rather shocking. But I must confess that I am not afraid of the word "tension." I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth. Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood. The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation. I therefore concur with you in your call for negotiation. Too long has our beloved Southland been bogged down in a tragic effort to live in monologue rather than dialogue.

~ Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham Jail

"Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. So if ya know what ya gotta do...then do it" ~ Jane Johnson Jones-Smith

peace

[Zorra]

74. Oh well, whatever,

nevermind.

[illachick]

73. This should also shine some light on

How a little more effort could be put into police training to help these cops deal with people who have disabilities that may interfere with their ability to comply with police orders. I covered the subject briefly in a college paper I did last semester and used another case as an example in which a mentally ill 26 year old was killed by off duty cops over wanting to see a movie twice, it's absolutely asinine. I don't know what police recruits are being trained but I think their training could use some diversifying and include how to treat disabled folks (if it doesn't already) so less of these events occur.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

76. OK, this is going to hurt me some while I write this due to memeries, but...

It is not just the cops that have done stuff like this. Mentally ill people on the streets are targets of people in general. I have seen teenagers at night walking around with stuff to hit homeless they find. Most of the time they find mentally ill ones that did not find a good hiding place.

Even sadder is that such thing never seem to get talk about on the news. Not many seem to cry over a "Dead Bum".

[gopiscrap]

77. fucking asshole cops have been

getting away with this shit for way too long!

[blkmusclmachine]

79. Yes, another heart breaking story.

[alarimer]

85. What was wrong with that jury?

Watching the video was enough to convince me to convict these thugs, but why did the jury acquit?

It seems so open and shut?

Do they just think that cops are above us and can do anything they want?

If I had been on that jury, I would have been the lone holdout, if need be, to at least ensure there would be another trial.

[Dawson Leery]

102. Go read policeone.com.

The attitude that those in uniform are above us all is rampant.
They call themselves warriors.

The scumbag copper has been getting his pension too
http://rt.com/usa/kelly-thomas-lapd-pension-914/
Be mad at me all you want, a large part of the problems are the police unions. They exist to make work for their members.

[hue]

86. Even animals do not kill like this without reason! How very terrible!!!

[marble falls]

96. Totally incomprehensible verdict.

[suffragette]

104. I still remember how the Fullerton police beat and pepper sprayed college and high school

students who were protesting for more diversity in hiring back in 1993.
They waited until the students were under an underpass so they could attack them without many witnesses.
Then they surrounded (blockaded) the campus and attempted to come after the students who had made it back to campus grounds.
I still remember hearing siren upon siren upon siren as officer after officer took up a defensive stance with baton out to blockade the campus.

[Eleanors38]

108. Impotence breeds more fear and enemies...

We become immobilized, and readily rationalize any incident in accordance with our own fears and circles of enemies. And that impotence extends to those who would be in power, providing only absolvement. The watchwords of our time:

"There's nothing you can do about it"™

[elehhhhna]

113. short of aliens landing and telling us to knock it the fck off,

I don't think we will.

I think we could. And we won't.