Feds reconsider giving military gear to the police....

[Indynic]

US rethinks giving excess military gear to police

it sounded promising, but it's being backed by a bunch of Libs, so I gotta ask... What is the catch?

How is this going to increase the size of government? Because you know that is their end game....

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Regardless of party it is good to see Congress responding to these outrages.

 

[Draco]

:P The catch, you say?

Occupy Wall Street, Unarmed = Crushed by overwhelming, and largely unwarranted police force.

Clive Bundy Ranch Thing, Armed to the Teeth = Given a wide berth despite people threatening the lives of federal agents.

Mike Brown/Missouri, Unarmed = Aggressive police tactics, tear gas, press blackouts and a general crushing of the people.
(Note: The guy who threw the Moltov in Missouri, that guy was armed; and that’s assault with a deadly weapon. But Moltov’s are kind of like the unknown Doomsday-style weapon: they’re only a useful deterrent if the adversary is aware you have them; this stands in contrast to rabid gun totting packs of people, which are pretty blatantly not going to take well to rubber bullets and tear gas.)

So, if I had to guess, I’d say the “catch” would be that we’re tired of getting whooped, yet they don’t seem terribly keen on arming themselves by and large. (Although the Clive Bundy thing was way, way beyond the pale.) The Left just doesn’t do that kind of thing.

I do wonder, though, how OWS would have been handled if they had even 10% of the people armed and willing to defend. It may not have gone down well, but counterintuitively, the count of casualties for armed and defiant groups appears to be lower than the count of casualties for predominantly unarmed, passive groups.

Go figure.

 

[pudly]

I do wonder, though, how OWS would have been handled if they had even 10% of the people armed and willing to defend. It may not have gone down well, but counterintuitively, the count of casualties for armed and defiant groups appears to be lower than the count of casualties for predominantly unarmed, passive groups.

More guns would have implied that they didn't want government solutions and control. That would have contradicted everything they were demanding.

 

[mrjarrell]

About time congress got off its ass and stopped the gravy train. Now all we need them to do is recall all the toys they've already given out. Every. Single. Piece.

 

[Expat]

I do wonder, though, how OWS would have been handled if they had even 10% of the people armed and willing to defend. It may not have gone down well, but counterintuitively, the count of casualties for armed and defiant groups appears to be lower than the count of casualties for predominantly unarmed, passive groups.

But they are in favor of common sense gun control and wish we were all disarmed.

 

[Draco]

Now, now. I’m with OWS, mostly; and I rather enjoy my second amendment. (Explain to me why Wall Street got bailed out, bonuses and all, yet student loans are almost impossible to discharge?)

See, I think the snag here is that you have to be very, very specific in what you wish for.

I want better government, not necessarily more. And I have very specific ways that I want it. It’s like the Monkey’s Paw, where if you just go around haphazardly wishing for things, you’re going to have a bad time.

See, that mace right there? She wished for breath freshener. That’s why you don’t leave things up to wish granters; they’re a notoriously troll-y kind of people.

 

[PRasko]

The same people decrying the "militarization" of the police right now, would be the first ones to dial 911 when a riot broke out in their city.

 

[BehindBlueI's]

(Explain to me why Wall Street got bailed out, bonuses and all, yet student loans are almost impossible to discharge?)

Choose your own narrative:

1) Welfare for corporations creates jobs and drives the economy. Welfare for individuals kills their desire to work and breeds laziness.

2) Hippy pot smoking college kids and lazy blue collar joes aren't making much in the way of campaign contributions.

3) Illuminati.

 

[drillsgt]

The same people decrying the "militarization" of the police right now, would be the first ones to dial 911 when a riot broke out in their city.

Just because you are against militarization of the police doesn't mean you still can't use 911 if necessary.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

The same people decrying the "militarization" of the police right now, would be the first ones to dial 911 when a riot broke out in their city.

I see no disconnect. If I call the police, I expect the police. I do not expect Das Reich.

Put the toys back in the drawer.

 

[pudly]

Explain to me why Wall Street got bailed out, bonuses and all, yet student loans are almost impossible to discharge?

Wall St bailout- Short version is that there was a true crisis in the banking system and the govt threw money at it to avoid an immanent disaster. The problem since then is that nothing has been done to fix the sources of the problem. The too-big-to-fail banks are now significantly larger than in 2008. The Fed's QE has primarily driven more money to the banks and stock market, but not so much into the rest of the economy (leaving aside the discussion as to whether printing money is productive in the first place). And regulation/enforcement activities have found repeated patterns of financial abuse/manipulation by these same bankers that has resulted in billions of dollars in fines, but not a single person going to jail.

Student loans- The old system used student loans from the private sector with govt backing (which served to assure the banks that they would get repaid and consequently kept student interest rates low). At that point, people could default on their student loans just as they could on their other debts if the circumstances were justified. However, in 2010, Obamacare included provisions to nationalize the student loan industry. Part of this legislation made it nearly impossible to get out of paying for these loans even if you really couldn't pay. You can thank the 100% Democrat-created Obamacare monstrosity for this problem.

In short, the first problem is due to ineffective government oversight and the second is due to direct government intervention. Both issues also show a government looking to extract ever more/larger sources of money. Doesn't give me any confidence that the government is equipped to fix either issue.

 

[jamil]

Now, now. I’m with OWS, mostly; and I rather enjoy my second amendment. (Explain to me why Wall Street got bailed out, bonuses and all, yet student loans are almost impossible to discharge?)

See, I think the snag here is that you have to be very, very specific in what you wish for.

I want better government, not necessarily more. And I have very specific ways that I want it. It’s like the Monkey’s Paw, where if you just go around haphazardly wishing for things, you’re going to have a bad time.

See, that mace right there? She wished for breath freshener. That’s why you don’t leave things up to wish granters; they’re a notoriously troll-y kind of people.

So you're an unemployed hipster sporting really smelly dreadlocks living in your mom's basement having graduated from a top university with a worthless degree in Cultural Anthropology and now owe $90K in student loans and want someone else to pay for it?

How much money did OWS'ers donate to political campaigns? How much money did WS'ers donate to political campaigns? Now do you really wonder?

Not that we should have bailed anyone out. I think both sets of bums should have to live with the consequences of the choices they made.

 

[PRasko]

I see no disconnect. If I call the police, I expect the police. I do not expect Das Reich.

Put the toys back in the drawer.

It's the same thing happening in Ferguson right now.

They complained about the militarization of the police, so they put control into the state polices hands.

Who showed up when the looting and riots broke out on Friday? No one, that's who.

The same people that complained about the police being over equipped are now complaining they didn't show up.

Either they need to be equipped to do their job as safely as possible, or they won't show up when you need them. Pick a side.

*This is in NO WAY condoning the no knock raids, which are asinine*

 

[Draco]

It's the same thing happening in Ferguson right now.

They complained about the militarization of the police, so they put control into the state polices hands.

Who showed up when the looting and riots broke out on Friday? No one, that's who.

The same people that complained about the police being over equipped are now complaining they didn't show up.

Either they need to be equipped to do their job as safely as possible, or they won't show up when you need them. Pick a side.

*This is in NO WAY condoning the no knock raids, which are asinine*

Yeah, here's the problem with that; after antagonizing people via rubber bullets and tear gas for a few days, along with pointing red lasers at peaceful protesters, they kind of caused the riot.

It's like kicking a police dog. Maybe you had a reason, maybe you didn't, but it doesn't matter now. Now, it going to bite you, even if you're really, really sorry about acting out.
(Mind you, there seems to be some curious way that being upset with police leads to screwing over random people; I'm not condoning it, but had things been handled with a modicum of competency, I doubt very much things would have devolved.)

These days, given the propensity of police to shoot first rather than exercise deductive reasoning or take the slightest risk to themselves, I view any incident with police to almost always esculate the odds of serious bodily harm or death. I can fed off someone trying to break in, I think; what I can't have is the police confusing good guy/bad guy because I look out of place. I've this silly aversion to getting beat down and/or shot by my saviors.

(Also, after Bisard, I've really no expectation that the police showing up will be sober and honest; I might get one or the other, but I'm not sure the odds would be in favor. It isn't fair to paint them all with that brush, I know, but I won't lie about it.)

Still, compared to the police in the Kelly Thomas murder, Bisard looks like a saint. >.>

 

[T755]

This is much ado about nothing. This was a great program. Many agencies received much needed equipment they would never get budgeted to purchase. MOst departments have been sacked at the knees money wise. So the flip side to these people screaming don't come for my guns while they clammer for the police guns are totally wrong. Regardess of what you believe the streets have become more violent. Rifles in the hands of criminals who are not afraid at all to use them on police is more common than ever. Perry was a example of this. So let me see if I get this straight. We should send back the M16's, none of which are full auto that go out, or the rifle rated vests just to stop scaring people. Now have their been some mis steps in the program sure but those agencies were kicked out. I sometimes think that when you continually blog all day that the police are a standing army and they are coming for you, some of you actually believe it. You have it very good locally in Marion County compared to other parts of the country. Why shouldn't I have the equipment I need to protect myself, and other, if my department won't or can't buy it. If a guy opens up on me with a AK you damn well better believe that if I have time I will send a appropriate response in kind with a rifle. You should be more afraid that the local police and sheriff's will be weakened to the point that "federal policing" will become necessary. Ferguson will be a test case on many levels including that one.

 

[BravoMike]

:P The catch, you say?

Occupy Wall Street, Unarmed = Crushed by overwhelming, and largely unwarranted police force.

Clive Bundy Ranch Thing, Armed to the Teeth = Given a wide berth despite people threatening the lives of federal agents.

Mike Brown/Missouri, Unarmed = Aggressive police tactics, tear gas, press blackouts and a general crushing of the people.
(Note: The guy who threw the Moltov in Missouri, that guy was armed; and that’s assault with a deadly weapon. But Moltov’s are kind of like the unknown Doomsday-style weapon: they’re only a useful deterrent if the adversary is aware you have them; this stands in contrast to rabid gun totting packs of people, which are pretty blatantly not going to take well to rubber bullets and tear gas.)

So, if I had to guess, I’d say the “catch” would be that we’re tired of getting whooped, yet they don’t seem terribly keen on arming themselves by and large. (Although the Clive Bundy thing was way, way beyond the pale.) The Left just doesn’t do that kind of thing.

I do wonder, though, how OWS would have been handled if they had even 10% of the people armed and willing to defend. It may not have gone down well, but counterintuitively, the count of casualties for armed and defiant groups appears to be lower than the count of casualties for predominantly unarmed, passive groups.

Go figure.

What blackouts? All of the local news channels have been running footage for many hours of the day and night here. Often times they are interrupting scheduled programming to give updates and sometimes they scrap the scheduled programming and just have live footage and reporters run for hours.

 

[ModernGunner]

LMAO!!!

We b***h about "the RIGHT!" we have, or should have, to own ANY firearms, or types of firearms WE want, but then b***h about what they have? What, they don't have the same Second Amendment rights?

Isn't that just a bit hypocritical? Hint: 'they' do. Hint #2: That LEO may well be our neighbor. Maybe a fellow INGO'er. We're not disarming him (or her), and should fight against that as vehemently as we fight against disarming the civilian citizen.

We should ONLY care that they're trained with it, and what they do with it.

EXACTLY the same as with lawful, and only lawful, citizens.

 

[Csquared]

Choose your own narrative:

1) Welfare for corporations creates jobs and drives the economy. Welfare for individuals kills their desire to work and breeds laziness.

2) Hippy pot smoking college kids and lazy blue collar joes aren't making much in the way of campaign contributions.

3) Illuminati.

I'll take #3 for $800 Alex.

 

[Destro]

Because the best way to respond to proven violent crowds throwing molatov cocktails and calling for your death is with a 6 shooter and a bus driver hat.