United States government has been actin as a universal bully , threatening, killing, sanctioning countries and fueling wars. We, people who are not Americans, who have been paying the prices of American governments aggression, we were fooled by the propaganda "that American government's foreign policy might be awful, but at least they respect their own people". Now we are finding out that they don't respect their own people , they are killing their own people the way they used to kill us .

We are like a chimpanzee with a machine gun, as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman's brother described him in Better Call Saul...

Precisely! I fear my own fed govt. and the way its military, as well as my local police, may be turned on me someday when the shit hits the fan, more than I do any foreign terrorist group or another country's military. I wish more Americans would wake the fuck up to that.. And let me state for the record that I am anything but some gun-loving, Trump-voting prepper. I'm just someone who was around for all the horrors of the 60s. 70s, and 80s while being intelligent enough to watch and learn how evil our fed govt. and military can be.

@spartan919
I wonder when exactly America was great ( I would clarify that when I say America, I mean American governments and politics) there are millions of good people as well as bad ones, like any other country.
But I hardly can find in the modern history any other government or deep state that had built on genocide of native American and then on slavery, and then on fueling wars around the world, and they've never apologized for their crimes. On top of that, they dare to criticize other people and cultures for " not respecting human rights " !!

All killer cops are burned into my brain .....do you know about JOHN MONROE BRANCH murdered with premeditation on a dead end Des Moines street by cop Harkin ?

@SeaGreenEyez I'm angry as hell. Unless and until white people start calling each other out, it's not going to stop.
NONE of this is remotely okay.
I got into it this morning on fb, with some woman who was saying that as awful as this is, we all need to "move on and forgive". I told her that was no
different than telling jews to get over the Holocaust, and she needed to
check her privilege.
Pretty sure I called her "Karen", too.
Haven't heard back from her though.

Any citizen that commits cold blooded murder in front of witnesses should be arrested immediately. The system is failing many. We shouldn't live in fear of those that are paid to protect and serve us.

@KKGator "move on and forget" was what she meant. "Its all in the past". WTF? Everything was in the past. Fuck those cowards and racists who just say move on.

@KKGator, @SeaGreenEyez You have to relax and put your mojo into getting better. I'm through fighting with neighbors. This country is just full of idiots and the freeways are no different.

@PondartIncbendog Yeah, that's pretty much what I told her, more or less.
I might have cussed a little. I might have questioned her intelligence, I don't remember exactly what I said.
I was pissed off at her attitude.
I said some shit.

@SeaGreenEyez Are you listening to me? Go rest! We are worried about you.

@KKGator Sounds like the usual "thoughts and prayers" bullshit we get after each mass shooting. I'll pass on that..

As if, right?

@bbyrd009 [startribune.com]

@FearlessFly ty; be interesting to see how it plays out i guess

@FearlessFly that screaming white cop's name is mohammed noor?

@bbyrd009 I'm not sure which "screaming white cop" you are referring to.

. . . (Noor is from Somalia)

. . . from the linked Star Tribune article :
"Mohamed Noor became the first former Minnesota police officer found guilty of an on-duty murder Tuesday as a Hennepin County jury convicted him for the fatal shooting of Justine Ruszczyk Damond in 2017."

@FearlessFly oh, gotcha, diff scenario. Guess ol Justine was white huh?

@bbyrd009 Given the full set of circumstances (I can elaborate if need-be), claims of reverse-racism were/are not prevalent/predominate in this case.

@FearlessFly So this was a black cop murdering a white woman? No wonder he got nailed...

@TomMcGiverin Black ? He is Somali, and very new-on-the-job.

. . . also,
Given the full set of circumstances (I can elaborate if need-be), claims of reverse-racism were/are not prevalent/predominate in this case.

@FearlessFly I'll gladly take your word on that one..

@TomMcGiverin sure smells to me, but im out of the loop

@FearlessFly "He is Somali, and very new-on-the-job." so nevermind the "reverse," what about just "racism?" Think these two lily-whites here cramping homie's neck are gonna get the same treatment Somali did? Wanna bet?

I totally share your shame and anger. In fact, I feel rage, and I'm a privileged white male..

I guess I'm so sick of this country, I can't get mad anymore. I'm just disgusted this goes on after all these years. America; not so great. You have got to stop watching these videos. There is nothing you can do by getting sick. Just stay informed.

It is unbelievable. You can't imagine that being done to anyone. I believe the officers deserve the death penalty for their actions.

@Unity I'm not sure you could prove premeditation. But you could prove intent. I'm not a lawyer.
The first officer certainly deserves life without parole. Give the others life with possibility of parole?

listen to this if you can't sleep.

@PondartIncbendog Proving premeditated may not be simple. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried. Any child understands that if you cut off a person's oxygen they're going to die. The officer kept his knee on his chest and neck. That is the method that most big cats use to kill their prey.

@Unity Cats have knees?

@PondartIncbendog Not funny

@Unity Get over it.

@SeaGreenEyez I hear you, I really do. The problem is that most of the bystanders were black, and much more than their freedom was at stake. A black person standing up to the police is facing DEATH. We as white women have the privilege of standing up with little fear of being shot.

@SeaGreenEyez they'd have shot you dead..without blinking an eye..

@Unity no such penalty in Minnesota but USA MARSHALLs can arrest the cops for civil rights violations and use lethal injections on cops like Timothy McVeigh murdering tiny kids in Oklahoma City

Even more than murder — it was slow, methodical murder by torture!

Minneapolis will suffer sniper fire unless all 4 are put in prison for life

@Larry68Feminist Watching it tonite on MSNBC, I feel like I am having flashbacks of watching the 60s riots on TV.

@TomMcGiverin you are..because White people Refused to listen to Our A.A citizens..I hope those flames spread from Coast to Coast, North, East, West and especially The South..

@Charlene I am too old and at risk with the virus to get out there with all the young people like the ones on the street in Minneapolis, but, like in the 60s, it is heartening to see the courage and passion of the young people being willing to risk the virus and getting assaulted or gassed by the cops on behalf of their values and convictions. Maybe there is hope for our future with those kind of millennials..

@TomMcGiverin now you know a bit closer how us vets flash back to our war

Without protective custody, they won't last a week in a regular prison with the black inmates and gangs being able to figure out really quickly who they are.

@TomMcGiverin Yeah. Ok. I have no problem with that.

@PondartIncbendog, and I have a real problem with cops murdering people. If they know that they could face consequences like this they might start to behave themselves.

Murder..straight up Murder, and Chauvin Enjoyed doing it..

Here is a major problem with video you've witnessed...it shows 1 cop kneeling, and the other one cop running block. Here is another angle [msnbc.com]

I'm not "kind" or "quiet".
I piss people off ALL THE TIME because I speak up.
I'm kind of surprised more people haven't tried to punch me in the face.

Although, I once had an old boss tell me, during a performance review, that he wanted to reach across and slap the shit out of me. He said the only reason he didn't was because he knew I'd hit him right back.
Maybe I give off the "I'll fuck you up" vibe, without even trying.
In any case, more of us need to speak up and get in people's faces over
their shitty behavior and attitudes.

@KKGator Haha! Well, if I were to be completely honest, no, I wouldn't have necessarily chosen those two terms to describe you personally, I only meant the 'love all people' people as a group. Though I have never wanted to punch you in the face. I speak up all the time, too, and am not always so nice, so I can certainly respect that in others. Love the performance interview anecdote. I landed my first nursing job due to the fact that I made the statement in my interview that I have no tolerance for willful ignorance.

I don't know why this instance seems to be hitting people harder, but it does, and maybe it will be the catalyst they need to start speaking up, too.

@Amzungu I think maybe, just maybe, we're reaching critical mass with this racist bullshit and police brutality.
At least I'm hoping we are. This shit has GOT to STOP.
If it doesn't, we deserve every bad thing that happens to us because of it.
White people are the only ones who can stop this shit.

@KKGator Well said!

Actor Will Smith got it right. The only thing that bystander videos have changed is that now we have much greater awareness as a country of how often this shit happens. What hasn't changed is how rarely there is any justice for blacks murdered by cops. It happened all the time, I'm sure, when I was a child and a teenager, but there were no cellphone cameras, so the word of bystanders was dismissed out of hand by the authorities.

We were making progress in the 60s. I was a very precocious, curious child then who read the newspaper and watched all the TV news of the protests, the riots and the Vietnam War. In short, what went wrong was Nixon, then Reagan being in power while most white Americans either sold out to the system for their own comfort and/or became calloused and indifferent to those who were poorer or members of a racial minority group. White America did become more tolerant of queer people and feminist women, but when it came to systems of power regarding criminal justice and war, white America has not changed at all when it comes to valuing the lives of non-white people, whether it's here in America or overseas in some country we've invaded for empire or oil....

Trump is the symptom, not the disease. Racism and misogyny were already there rotting much of America before he was elected. The diff is with him leading by example, it is now encouraged and shameless for racists and misogynists to be open about it in polite society.

@KKGator You got that right. Things will only change when enough white people give up their privilege enough to identify down, instead of up, and side with those who are oppressed against the systems of oppression, whether it's police brutality or the prison-industrial complex or the poverty draft of our military since Vietnam or women or queer people being oppressed by attacks on reproductive rights or gay rights by the Bible thumpers and their Repub pols.

@TomMcGiverin how do you remember JOHN MONROE BRANCH and Harkin hunting him dead on a dead end Street Garfield east of I-235 ??? ZERO progress has been made in Des Moines as long as Harkin is not admitted to being a 1st degree killer

Actually, it reminds me of the horrible things done by Reagan's beloved Contras, Freedom Fighters he called them, that killed and maimed in Central America during the 80s when there were civil wars going on there. Same things, same time that inspired the Browne song. The one I liked from then was by Canadian folksinger Bruce Cockburn that went, " If I had a rocket launcher, I would retaliate"..

Seems like tonite's song on topic should be "For What It's Worth" by The Buffalo Springfield. " We've got to stop, hey, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down". Unfortunately, timeless...

@TomMcGiverin Another excellent protest song. We need more of them.

@TomMcGiverin yes Contras were ripping up the bellies of pregnant women straight out of ReaGUNs YEAR OF THE bible 1983. I fought Neal Smith for months to block the bill in Congress finally sneaked through by a black CongressWOMAN in Ohio unanimous consent rule

I saw online today that he tried to kill another unarmed black man back in 2008. If the system had worked then by firing him, instead of taking no action against him, Floyd would be alive today. The system in Minneapolis is complicit in this murder in that sense...

@TomMcGiverin This is the real problem. It has been allowed to go on.

Again!

Seems like his ex wife identified him and he is a police officer.

Holy shit!

Wouldn't surprise me. In the 60s and 70s the cops were always sending undercover cops into lefty groups to try to infiltrate them and encourage violence by the group. When that failed, the undercover provacatuers would then commit violence themselves during protests so it could be blamed on the non-violent lefty groups.

I watched it twice. The second time, I was really listening to George Floyd’s words. He said over and over that he couldn’t breathe, that he hurt, he said he was gonna die, that they were killing him. He called for his mama. His nose started bleeding. He became less and less vocal. Then moved less and less. Then became utterly and completely still. And yet that MF’s knee stayed on his neck! It was HORRENDOUS.

@Apunzelle What is wrong with you? I deliberately did not watch the video.

@itsmedammit Why does something have to be wrong with me? Because I want to know what I witnessed? Because I want to be sure my reaction is correct? Because I want to make sure I understand the furor and rage going on across the country?

@Apunzelle Why are you telling me the details that I chose to not watch? How would you feel if you told me that you could not bear to watch someone being decapitated and I proceed to describe all the grisly details to you?

@itsmedammit I’m sorry that bothered you. I wasn’t thinking. Though, in my defense, you’re gonna have a tough time not hearing the details with how much people are talking about this.

@SeaGreenEyez Even before I found about your work, I figured you were one of the good guys! Thank you for your long service.

@itsmedammit Please don't fight. You are both friends and allies in a very difficult times. We need each other. I've seen it and have been on the verge of tears and anger. Then there is the other cases with the ex cop. We are all under terrible stress and we need to hang together.
We are all going to snap at each other, I guess that's the animal in us, but we can try to understand everybodys pain. Everybody is hurting.

Everywhere this is being discussed, details are shared. No way around that.

Personally, I seek out the details because I need to stay angry and horrified lest I become complacent.

@Lucy_Fehr As I said, I saw the other video. It was enough for me. I am sorry if you have a need to view this to keep yourself from becoming complacent. I also happen to feel it is disrespectful to this man to have his horrible death on constant display.

@itsmedammit My grandson is a 260 pound 6 2 black boy and only 15. He is also educated with a genius level IQ. linguistically talented and not afraid to question things .His mother and his other grandparents have had "the talk" with him but he's still only 15

My greatest fear is a cop deciding he is a threat and taking his normal questioning of everything as being uppity or "resisting"

George's tragic death was filmed by his friends to ENSURE it was seen. Us white people should be aware of how ones without our privilege get treated.

What you see as disrespectful, I and others with similar familial structures see as something we must not only endure but also share far and wide so that we do not forget that this shit happens every day to black and brown bodies

I do not have the luxury of refusing to watch when I am fully aware that it could easily be MY black boy unable to breathe next time. So no, I will not become complacent; I will not ignore it just because it is disturbing. Us white people SHOULD be disturbed every time it happens.

I feel like you were trying to insinuate that I am somehow wrong for my position but I am going to chalk it up to a rough day of explaining to people on facebook why he didnt deserve to die for possibly passing a bad 20.

@Lucy_Fehr And I get the feeling you are insinuating that I am complacent or uncaring or whatever. You don't know or understand me and you don't need to.

@itsmedammit Because I defended and explained WHY I feel I must pay attention? This last response of yours is a typical white fragility response.

I notice you did not say I was incorrect about your insinuation but instead accused me of the same thing. For lack of a better term: "you said it first" You are attempting to defend what you said with what I said in response to it. Deflection.

You don't have to fear someone you love dying because of his skin color; your loved ones have not been terrorized for being black. your loved one doesn't wish she was another color and many other injustices too numerous to mention. I can't imagine how much worse it is for kids that do not have the advantages of living with white people.

For the record, I am scared for my grandkids. I am angry that other black people are killed with impunity and Im angry that it just keeps happening over and over.

I bared my feelings here because I can't at home and had a weak moment. There was an opportunity for you to agree that my grandkids do matter, that other black people do matter, that a fellow non believer is having a bad day but instead it's about how I made you feel.

got it.

@Lucy_Fehr Once again, you know nothing about me.

@itsmedammit True. All I know is what you have shown me and I've seen enough

So how are things going in your country?

@itsmedammit As far as I can see, they are not as bad as in the USA, but worse than the United Kingdom. Things may be slowly improving here, but only at snail's pace.

Things to consider: Australia has a much smaller population, so it is to be expected that there are correspondingly fewer reports. Also, while "the white man" massacred the indigenous people, Australia does not have a long history of slavery.

However, Australia has its fair share of right-wing nutters at all levels of government.

Cops are sadistic gangsters and watch the union defend these worthless scum cretins...