Cops get off easy/no charges for murder of Freddie Gray

exthrower wrote:

You are simply to dumb and bigoted to function in our society...

There is no reason to go out of the way to be nasty about Melania Trump, an accidental political wife who surely never expected to be playing the part of the immigrant spouse, making the warm and wifely case for her husband’s cold, cruel, anti-immigrant presidential bid on the opening night of the Republican National Convention. But you don’t have to be nasty to her to point out that she was badly ill-served by her husband’s campaign apparatus tonight.

Most egregious, as first pointed out by Jarrett Hill on Twitter, is that Melania’s speech appeared to be at least partially lifted from the very successful convention speech given by Michelle Obama in 2008. A large portion of Trump’s oratory — about her parents’ lessons “that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect” — directly repeated Obama’s story of how she and her husband were both raised with certain values, “that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say you’re going to do, that you treat people with dignity and respect.”

This is a bad — really, really bad — error. It’s the appropriation of a historic speech, made eight years ago by the first African-American First Lady of the United States, by the white woman who wants to succeed her in the White House. Who knows why it happened. Maybe, as Melania claims, she wrote the speech largely on her own; she could have used Michelle’s excellent speech as a model, hewing way too close to it. More likely is that Trump’s staff or speechwriters wrote it, used Michelle’s speech as a model and hewed way too close to it. Either way, it was political malpractice to let this woman go on national television and deliver these stolen words.

But even without the plagiarism, Melania’s speech was bad. Dressed in snowy white with poofed things at the end of her sleeves, she looked beautiful, and spoke pleasantly enough. But the words that came out of her mouth were empty, meaningless. If she had really paid attention to Michelle’s speech from 2008, what she should have taken from it was a lesson about the power of narrative specificity: Michelle told detailed, intimate stories of her life as a young person and her life as a wife and mother, details that shed light on her life, her personality, the nature of her relationship with her husband. There was the story of her father, struck in middle age with multiple sclerosis, working every morning to button his shirt and using two canes to cross the room to kiss his wife; there was the memorable scene of Barack driving Malia home from the hospital, “inching along at a snail’s pace, peering anxiously at us in the rearview mirror, feeling the whole weight of her future in his hands …”

Melania’s task should have been to humanize her cartoonish thug of a mate, whether by offering a clear picture of herself, of him, or of their family life together. But short of offering the names of her sister, the country of her birth, and her interest in “the incredible arena of fashion,” Melania provided no detail, no specificity. Instead, she delivered 20 minutes of sentences that seemed to emerge at random from a Bland Platitude Generator, a disconcertingly large percentage of which aimed to reassure an audience that her husband actually has cared about the United States prior to 2016:

“When it comes to my husband I will say that I am definitely biased and for a good reason. I have been with Donald for 18 years and have been aware of his love for this country since we first met.”

“Like me, he loves this country very much.”

“The only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them.”

“My husband has been concerned about our country as long as I have known him.”

“With all of my heart, I know he will make a great and lasting difference.”

“He will never give up and most importantly he will never let you down.”

“His achievements speak for themselves.”

Trump’s “kindness is not always noted but it is there for all to see.”

“There is no room for small thinking, no room for small results; Donald gets things done.”

“My husband’s experience exemplifies growth.”

“The race will be hard fought all the way to November. There will be good times and hard times and unexpected turns.”

None of these sentences meant anything. They were words without content; clichés as empty and airy as the poofs at the end of her sleeves. Perhaps if she’d had a better speech writer, she wouldn’t have had to steal material from Michelle Obama. But she didn’t have a better speech writer, she didn’t have a better adviser, she didn’t have a better husband, and what Melania Trump is about to have is one of those hard times and unexpected turns she so confidently and blandly predicted. Sad!

Tim "Pissflaps" Graham wrote:

Blah Blah. wrote:

The judge ruled that no one was murdered and there was no homicide.

This being the third time nobody is being held accountable. The city already paid the Gray family MILLIONS but nobody is to blame.

The people happy about the verdict will be the same outraged the next time a cop is shot where he stands.

Is there a march on or riot for that?

Doclove wrote:

Tim "Pissflaps" Graham wrote:

This being the third time nobody is being held accountable. The city already paid the Gray family MILLIONS but nobody is to blame.

The people happy about the verdict will be the same outraged the next time a cop is shot where he stands.

Is there a march on or riot for that?

I don't think a march or riot will happen. I'm guessing something more like a Dallas/Baton Rouge response will be in order.

Coach wrote:

Yeah, let's kill some cops today to avenge Freddie death. Is that what you want? Too many people obviously do.

How about some justice?

You prove my point. Go do the job! Why don't you want to put the uniform on! All you can do is duck putting yourself in the position. You just smoke and mirror and complain but will not go do the job yourself! WHY! What heroics, thats just it you can't win. Try it! All I'm saying is...go put the uniform on, why do you want to duck that! Go do it, Law Enforcement needs people like you to show us the better way. Help us, we wait for your training and guidance! Oh I see you got a ten page Felony rap sheet and you are one of those dudes the lady is calling about...on her roof. If not then shut up and go put the uniform on.

No disagreement from me. I was a cop for a time. People have no idea what goes on after hours.

But you can't shoot people because you are scared or angry. Or you should go to jail.

If you are in fear of your life, get a different job. Its not your job to shoot shop lifters or speeders.

And I know the BLM stuff is BS. Cops kill more white men than black. This is a police issue, not a race issue.

Hey, dumb pig......Just because your life lead to a career of following orders and dressing like other men who follow orders, don't assume all people are as stupid.

You are so deluded to think others would want to "put the uniform on." What a jerkoff.

Go drain your captain's nuts, then go direct traffic, you sheep.

There was a charge for murder, so the subject line is wrong.

People were individually charged with murder or manslaughter in this case.

And they were tried one at a time.

For each one that was tried they could not prove that that person was responsponsible for the death.

Maybe they should have been tried together or just the police department should have somehow been put on trial.

Where was it mentioned that this was a jury trial ?

It was a bench trial .

Have you zero sense of self-irony, calling someone "dumb" while complaining that he assumes others are stupid? And what is with all the sex-addled commentary?

And let me guess: you probably think Mike Brown, the "Gentle Giant," was a cigar aficionado.

In many ways, blacks are coddled in the USA with so-called "Affirmative Action" programs for school admissions, hiring and contract selection. Maybe that's part of the problem, not the solution. These policies are mere bandaids that distract from the true problems: high rates of abortion and out-of-wedlock births, poor schools, unemployment, ....

White people have always had license to murder black people in the United States since the 1600s. This will never change.

No, the city saved court costs. They may even have insurance. Civil settlements have little to do with the truth.

Why do you assume you know what happened inside that van?

Actually I was impressed.

Freddie's so-called " family" is better off without him esp. After that payday. That loser was in and out of jail all his life, stole from them and couldn't support his kids, only his drug habit. Boo- frickin hoo.

get used to it.. wrote:

Why do you assume you know what happened inside that van?

I know the following: A group of cops and Freddy Gray went for a ride. Freddy was dead afterward. The city settled with the family for close to 7 million dollars....quickly.

People are a bit upset that nobody is being held responsible for a persons death and are taking it out on the group they assume to be responsible for Mr Gray's death, along with many other DAILY occurrences of police abuse.

People who defend cops find this hard to swallow, but for those that tuned in to this(police abuse) years ago, the recent extreme actions by some aren't a surprise. Actually, I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner.

get used to it.. wrote:

Actually I was impressed.

Tim "Pissflaps" Graham wrote:

Hey pig.....Nobody cares or is impressed with your line of bs. Go post on Some pig or PBA website about your "heroics."

You were impressed? Then take a bow little lady......should be easy for you as you are spineless.

Lord Charles Calvert wrote:

What action did this Lieutenant engage in? Was he anywhere near the scene of any of this? There was zero chance of ever getting him because he, uh, you know...wasn't in any way involved. Yet, this buffoon prosecutor doesn't go with just low hanging fruit (where there was also little to no evidence), no she aims for the moon. Sadly for her, she is trying to get there in a cardboard rocket from hobby lobby. She should be disbarred, imo.

And, there is a huge difference between civil and criminal liability and they settled, unwisely, imo, there was no trial.

And people realize that the judge is not just acquitting these guys, he is saying eff no, not just no to the state. He has ridiculed the cases.

This hilarious post is exactly right. All the legal experts the local news interviews at the trials are saying the same. The DA basically threw felony charges at any cop who looked at Freddie Gray on the day in question.

IIRC, there was objective and circumstantial evidence that indicated the van driver did NOT give a rough ride. When the judge questioned the prosecution about this they basically said, 'well we just know the police gave him one.'

Much of the trials has centered around whether it was negligent for the cops to not seat belt Gray with the judge ruling over and over that it wasn't based on training and previous practices to avoid dangerous situations for the police in the rear of the van. He is apparently outright ridiculing prosecution's efforts to parlay the seatbelt issue into felonies.

That said, the loss of life is a tragedy and members of the police have certainly done some awful things to innocent people in this city that have gone unpunished. The unqualified DA got drunk on power and political ambition and took a stand on the wrong case.

Being a cop in dangerous areas of Baltimore would be unfathomably difficult for those of you posting F the police type stuff. If you truly believe what you write and think you can do better, come sign up for the squad. Or don't call the cops next time someone breaks into your home.