Life is good!!

November 23rd, 2015

I gots me a chuckbox!!!

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Citizens trying to quietly and respectfully address the police problems in Minneapolis to the City Council were tossed out of the room, no public comment allowed!

I’ve known Jan Nye forever, she’s the third one here speaking to the Minneapolis City Council, and was hauled out, as were the others.  Before her was her partner Dave Bicking, who was also hauled out of the room.  Bicking was a member of the Civilian Review Board, which was disbanded by the City.  Since then, there have been many, many complaints regarding police behavior, and only 0.1% result in any discipline.  There’s a problem in Minneapolis, and it needs to be addressed.

 

 

 
HERE’S A LINK to the one video so far after the killing of Jamar Clark.

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Here’s a “response” to the Letter to the Editor that I wrote last month — check the flawed logic and ad hominem jab:

And, what I find completely reprehensible, is that an officer of the court will give tacit acquiesce to this kind of activity based on some abstract concept of “cultural injustice.”

Yup, he really said that… and more… and it took him so many more words to do it (I wonder who wrote it for him):

Letter: The issue is more than ‘cultural injustice’

There have been numerous news accounts where gang members roll through a black neighborhood shooting indiscriminately and an innocent black child is killed by a stray bullet through the wall. What “cultural injustice” causes this behavior? And why does this black life not matter?

Roughly 7,000 blacks are murdered annually. Tragically this figure represents more than 50 percent of all murders and even sadder still is that 95 percent of these murders occur at the hand of other blacks (see Walter Williams’ “ Fiddling Away the Future,” July 8, 2015). What cultural injustice allows for this and why do these black lives not matter?

Two Hattiesburg, Mississippi, police were murdered by four black men and a black woman. One of the officers, 25-year-old Liquori Tare, was black as well. Why does officer Tate’s black life not matter?

Two Brooklyn police officers were assassinated as they sat in their police cruiser, Ismaaley Brinsley, the black gunman who killed them, had earlier put a bullet in his ex-girlfriends abdomen. Why does her black life not matter and what cultural injustice justifies her shooting in Baltimore as a kick off for a cop killing spree in Brooklyn?

What cultural injustice makes acceptable that a Texas cop should get capped for simply fueling his squad car?

In that same letter there was a reference made that there has been a “decrease in police gun deaths” which was little more than an editorial sleight of hand intended to skirt around the fact that the aforementioned police assassins are currently batting 1,000. And, what I find completely reprehensible, is that an officer of the court will give tacit acquiesce to this kind of activity based on some abstract concept of “cultural injustice.”

Furthermore, whites like myself demand and expect our chiefs of police continuously to monitor their officers for the excessive use force. To do otherwise is morally repugnant and antithetical to any police officer’s first call to duty.

The sad part is that the black lives of men, women and children that are preyed upon in these communities by black criminals are negligible or expendable for their plight does not serve to prop up any philosophical or political worldview of ideologically motivated individuals.

Therefore, I see no reason to entertain much less engage in a dialogue with those who make irrelevant emotional pronouncements at no personal risk to themselves. In the end they defend that which is indefensible and are content while others pay a cruel price.

George W. Snyder

Red Wing

Here’s the Letter to the Editor I wrote after the Red Wing City Council voted UNANIMOUSLY to reconsider Resolution 6873:

Letter: Thanks, City Council, for reconsideration

It’s more than “five words.” The resolution cover sheet states “The United States has seen an increase of hostility toward law enforcement over the past two years” and “law enforcement is the target of criticism and violent attacks,” and the resolution claims a “violent surge against police.” 

However, statistics show a decrease in police deaths by gunfire.

The resolution language elicits an are-you-for-the-police-or-against-them twist, and serves as a distraction from the legitimate constitutional, civil, and human rights issues at the root of hostility and criticism of police. Animosity expressed toward #blacklivesmatter shows a failure to acknowledge cultural injustice.

As an attorney, an officer of the court, sworn to uphold the Constitution, I find this offensive, because the “increase of hostility” and “criticism” is a demand for accountability, observation of fundamental rights, and prosecution of crimes committed by police. We must address this systemic problem.

It’s incumbent on myself and other whites to acknowledge racial and class inequity and crimes against others, and work toward change. Each of us bears responsibility, and I’m glad to see the City Council display some understanding of the nuances of this resolution and the need for community discussion. In the words of Congressman Luis Gutierrez, “We’re not going back to the ’50s.” 

The best outcome might be for the Red Wing Police Department to continue its proactive training and quality policing, and for the City Council and Human Rights Commission to begin our community discussion of how we can achieve equality and “liberty and justice for all.”

Carol A. Overland

Red Wing

 

PUC

Tomorrow, the Chapter 7829 Rulemaking is going to the Commission, for approval of the FINAL rules.  This rulemaking has been going on formally for over two years now in Docket 13-24 (go to NEW SEARCH and search for this docket).

Overland 7829 Comment Nov 18 2015

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And some history…   I’ve been concerned about this chapter for a long while, and submitted a Petition for Rulemaking over FOUR YEARS ago.  Apparently that was filed in the trash:

Overland Petition for Rulemaking-7829

And prior posts:

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But she’s still pulling!  David, here’s the photo for Kevin!

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