I Feel Confident Enough To Post These Now. A Collection Of All The Existing Posters After Some Edits

Primer for those who still don’t understand in the wake of the arrest of, incarceration of, and likely murder of Sandra Bland in TX: 1. Asking a cop why they are stopping you/ticketing you is your right. They do not have the right to arrest you for asking, beat you for asking or in any way mistreat you for asking that question. 2. You have the right to say whatever you wish to a cop in response to being stopped. ANYTHING at all, so long as it does not constitute a threat of harm. You can cuss a cop, yell at a cop, and call a cop a fascist pig or a racist if you like. I do not recommend it, you shouldn’t do it (because sadly cops don’t care about the Constitution in far too many cases, and thus, might beat or kill you), and it’s not very nice I suppose (even when deserved), but it is NOT illegal to do so. 3. Refusing to put out a cigarette when asked by a cop is not a criminal offense either. The cop has no lawful right to arrest you for smoking or “disobeying” an order to stop smoking. Only if you are already being arrested for an actual crime and putting out the cigarette is necessary to affect the arrest, can such a request be considered lawful and can failure to do so constitute “resisting arrest.” But refusing to put the cigarette out, in and of itself, does not constitute a crime. 4. If you do any of the above, the cop still does not have the right to beat you or arrest you. And if you end up beaten or killed, it is not your fault. It is entirely and only the cop’s fault. They should be arrested, tried, convicted and jailed. Your “arrogance” or “attitude” is not grounds for brutality, ever. 5. None of the above is made any less true by the fact that “cops have a hard job and put their lives on the line.” That is entirely irrelevant and has no bearing on the rights of the people or the limitations on police power. 6. Any cop who disagrees with the previous points is not qualified to be a cop and should be summarily dismissed from their jobs. Any cop who can’t handle being challenged as to their authority, or who in any way disregards the rights of the people is not qualified to be a cop and should be summarily dismissed from their jobs. 7. Anyone at all who disagrees with these previous points has contempt for the Constitution and would clearly be more comfortable in a police state. Yet these are the same people who think “government regulation” of industry is tyranny, or that the IRS is equivalent to the Nazi SS or that Obamacare is totalitarianism. So they don’t mind actual authoritarian actions (so long as they are worked out mostly on the bodies of black folks and/or the poor), but God forbid government try and ensure health care, or collect taxes from the rich or try and limit pollution. THEN they scream about big brother and how awful the state is…

Tim Wise (via la-lobalita)

Tiny things from reddit, part 2!

Bonus cat in one of the pics.

If you’re going to read just one wonderful Adventure Time write-up today (and you should), make it this one by Maria Bustillos. In it, she talks with the key creative gang of Pen, Adam, Pat, Kent, Rebecca, Nick, and Jack, making for a fairly definitive overview of the series. Read it here. Thanks, Maria!

The resolution of each eleven-minute episode is anything but tidily triumphant; each one is as likely to end on a question or a joke as on an answer. Yet one comes away satisfied, a little bit the way one might at a David Lynch movie. The narrative is endlessly malleable, and includes all the possibilities granted by the existence of wizards and magical creatures, time travel, and a huge, ever-evolving cast. It’s a canvas and a story big enough for dozens of artists to make their own way. Even the drawing style is inconsistent, handmade-feeling; longtime fans may learn to detect the hand or voice of a favorite storyboard artist or writer. The goal of the show seems to be exploration, not uniformity.

Ok, having depression or any kind of mood disorder fucking sucks. It can make even the simplest tasks feel overwhelming and impossible. But if you’re feeling shitty and you wake up and are able to accomplish any of these things you deserve a fucking medal. I know shit is hard but you’re not alone. Take solace in the little things. Just because they’re small doesn’t mean they’re not important. Little steps are never a bad place to start. 

Look at the difference: In 1977 I bought a small house in Portland Oregon for $24,000. At the time I was earning $5 per hour working at a large auto parts store. I owned a 4 year old Chevy Nova that cost $1,500. Now, 36 years later that same job pays $8 an hour, that same house costs $185,000 and a 4 year old Chevy costs $10,000. Wages haven’t kept up with expenses at all. And, I should point out that that $5 an hour job in 1977 was union and included heath benefits.

an anonymous online commenter on the current economy. (via han-nara)

“You may not agree with a woman, but to criticize her appearance — as opposed to her ideas or actions — isn’t doing anyone any favors, least of all you. Insulting a woman’s looks when they have nothing to do with the issue at hand implies a lack of comprehension on your part, an inability to engage in high-level thinking. You may think she’s ugly, but everyone else thinks you’re an idiot.”

Hilary Clinton says like an absolute legend. It’s a bit too normal how appearances are criticised and the degree to which such criticisms are perceived as valid.

It always says more about you than me and I’m glad Hilary found the words to explain it coherently. . 

(via chrystallclear)

I just learned that this is not a Hilary Clinton quote--it's a quote from an article by Erin Gloria Ryan which was published May 9, 2012 on Jezebel. I'm still reblogging, because I completely agree with the sentiment.  

I believe that every American should at least watch this monologue from The Newsroom.

Cops: The Myth of the 'Most Dangerous Job' | AmericaWakieWakie

Often we hear the echo of our security culture tell us policing is an inherently dangerous job, and that therefore we should give deference to these people’s judgment whenever potentially hostile situations arise. In such scenarios whereby the killing of a civilian occurs, we are perpetually told the use of lethal force was not only necessary, but simply part of an ‘incredibly dangerous’ profession — that these killings merely are a result of cops protecting themselves in life-threatening situations.

Well I call bullshit.

On October 22 last year, Andy Lopez, a Mexican-American 13 year old boy, was shot seven times by Santa Rosa officer Erick Gelhaus, a man with a history of using excessive force in his duties. Lopez was walking home from a friend’s house holding an airsoft toy-gun designed to resemble an assault rifle. Gelhaus has claimed he thought the child was holding an AK-47, a detail suggesting he could see the toy-gun with clarity. Gelhaus says he shouted to the 13 year old to drop the ‘gun’. Andy turned around, allegedly holding the toy up. Lopez died thereafter, taking multiple gunshots — one of which through his chest — when Gelhaus opened fire. 

Gelhaus did not wait for backup. He did not investigate what he thought he saw. He was in absolutely no danger. His judgement smacked of shoot now, think later. In fact, Andy Lopez, like the rest of us, was more in need of protection from Gelhaus the moment the deputy saw him than Gelhaus needed to ‘protect’ himself from Lopez. 

Cops Are More Likely To Shoot You Than You Are To Shoot Them

Last November the Activist Post ran a story about the propensity of police officers killing civilians. Stated was the following:

"Since 9/11, and the subsequent militarization of the police by the Department of Homeland Security, about 5,000 Americans have been killed by US police officers. The civilian death rate is nearly equal to the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq. In fact, you are 8 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than by a terrorist.”

That statistic is alarming enough considering if the 4,489 American soldiers killed in combat in Iraq constitute a condition of war, then the killing of 5,000 American civilians by United States police departments ought to be viewed as a war on we the People by our very own government.

Still, having watched the Lopez family struggle for justice thus far, I wanted to know better how more civilians have been killed by cops in the United States than soldiers have died in Iraq.

I decided to compare the number of American citizens’ deaths by police directly to the number of police officers’ deaths by citizens since the start of the Iraq war; after all, if an officers job is so dangerous, it is we the policed who make it dangerous.

Since 2003, as documented by the FBI, there have been approximately 587 deaths in the line of duty directly as result of civilians’ felonious actions, i.e., lethal assault, shooting, manslaughter etc. Below is the breakdown by year.

Officers Feloniously Killed Since the Start of Iraq War

2003 — 52

2004 — 57

2005 — 55 

2006 — 48

2007 — 57

2008 — 41

2009 — 48

2010 — 56

2011 — 72

2012 — 48

2013 — 53 (data not yet available, substituted 10 year average)

Total = 587 

The Myth of the Most Dangerous Job

After a minute of simple math (5,000/587 = 8.52), what might seem obvious became much clearer: A cop is far more likely — 8.5 times — to kill you than you are to kill a cop. Stated another way, when an officer comes into contact with you, you are far less of a threat to them than the perception our culture proliferates. The police are, in fact, more of a threat to YOU.

The idea that police have an incredibly dangerous job is what we Southerners call a tall-tale, a stretch of the truth to bolster an ego unwilling to accept mediocrity. Not to take away from what many fair-minded officers do every day, but as those stubborn things called facts would have it, policing is less dangerous than farming, fishing, logging, and trash collecting, as well as six other professions.  

Now is the time to burst the cop myth and to stop giving them the deference to murder our friends and family in the street.  

by Edwin Ushiro