The City of Seattle official defunds their Police Department

I almost made the OP a stockphoto of a man hanging himself, but thought it might be too upsetting.

So just picture that.

Garbage-stinking city anyway

Re-allocated. Not de-funded.

What's the explanation for why every city experiencing these riots are run by Democrats?

R3 Re-allocated to programs which will not contribute to public safety in any significant way.

Actually, yeah, R5, they will, had you bothered to do even 30 seconds of research on this.

I think Chicago’s LorI Lightfoot is the one who is going to het this right. Now is not the time to be light on crime - while also being racially sensitive. Seattle and Portland are a bunch of hipster anarchists - not warriors for racial justice. Time for Dems to play the game right. Distinguish between political protests and crime.

TBD, r5

What could possibly go wrong?!

It will end in tears, and an exodus of the tax base.

Just wonderful.

[quote] What's the explanation for why every city experiencing these riots are run by Democrats?

What’s your explanation for the poverty rate in the red state south. What is your explanation for the Covid infection and death rate under Trump?

Why oh why can’t the police just speak in soft, polite tones to dangerous people high on drugs?

I’ve stopped every burglar and violent crackhead with this peaceful, sanctimonious method.

R13 I have found that offering them freshly baked cookies and singing show tunes works.

Our liberal cities are becoming the new asylums. You can't lock people up anymore, so addicts, criminals and the insane become homeless. And they gravitate to areas that offer the most services. That's what will happen to Seattle now that they have committed to reallocating half of their police budget to the homeless. R10 is correct. The tax base will flee, businesses will relocate (already are), tourism will greatly diminish and Seattle will go the way of San Fran, Chicago and Detroit.

Bonus: other cities will be giving their homeless a one way bus ticket to Seattle---the new promised land. Good job Seattle. It was nice knowin' ya.

^BTW--I visited a few years ago and was shocked at the number of homeless that were openly camping and doing drugs in broad daylight....in the tourist areas. Very unsettling. I said at the time I would never go back and I haven't. Can't imagine the hellhole it will become now.

Carmen Best e-mailed her resignation letter to her officers last night and is expected to make an official announcement at a press conference with the mayor this morning.

Fucking ridiculous. What is it with these progressive cities hiring black police chiefs, only to systematically undermine their authority amd ignore their recommendations for their police departments?

Minneapolis and Portland also have black police chiefs who I guess are just decorations since their city councils also think their know policing better than the career professionals they hired.

Seattle is heading for serious violence. The stage has been set.

DEAR GOD!

^Frasier Crane already retired to a red state along with anyone else with money....and brains.

Good.

Defunding means putting that money into social services instead of policing everything.

Police shouldn't be in schools and trying to deal with the mentally ill. Their only options are shooting or arresting, neither of which makes any sense in either of those situations.

This way the police can't buy military tanks and weaponry.

That sounds good to me.

Good economies make societies safe, not just police.

In NYC, the police flood the worst parts of the city.

Guess what? They're STILL the worst parts of the city

[quote] Chicago’s LorI Lightfoot is the one who is going to het this right.

Lightfoot and het in the same sentence?

Meth, Crack & a modern sense of entitlement are the game changers, there is no sufficing people anymore and they act like animals. America is over!

Of course this thread is filled with neolib naysayers. Community activists on the far left are offering radical & real solutions to problems in their neighborhoods. They have been doing the work (often for free via nonprofits, collectives etc) for years & every solution is met with the typical neolib talking points (it will be 'anarchy', "no, we can't do it *that* way!", not considering solutions outside of what white liberals want, saying "change takes time!" then delaying changes indefinitely.) People want radical change now. Get out of the way.

An example of a program that exists in Eugene Oregon. Neoliberals are dismissive of services like this because it excludes law enforcement. An EMT & a crisis counselor are dispatched to mental health emergency calls. It works.

We've tried the policing model now for decades.

How's it working out?

Seattle has suffered a putsch.

Here's an interesting blog post from a local college professor detailing the damage to downtown and the atmosphere in Seattle. It's from a week ago.

He, quite rightly, compares the rioters to Nazi brownshirts. The comments at the bottom are horrifying. The sort of religious fervor of the left in Seattle is bizarre. There's also the obvious fear among Seattle residents of being singled out for punishment by the cultists.

R29 Not badly at all, and certainly better than ever in the past couple of decades. Not sure why armed citizen militias and gang wars are a desireable societal set up...

Oh, wait, you're some clueless child of wealth who has no personal experience of violence or poverty. You have no idea what I'm talking about.

Did any of you think to check with the workers before you liberated us? We don't want this shit.

Good. Probably saved a lot of lives by reassigning duties away from trigger happy racists and bullies with badges.

DL is full of old white racists. Some of them are actually gay, and many are even Americans.

R33 Trigger happu racists? How many people do the Seattle Police shoot on average? Y'all talk about the PNW like it's Rhodesia.

R34 I think the difference of opinion on DL reflects a class divide within the gay community.

College educated gays and lesbians, who work professional jobs and have been working from home for months literally have no clue what is happening in the outside world beyond what they see on TV or what they get told on social media.

They don't speak to conservatives at all and have no significant relationships with people who are poorer than them. Their idea of the other half- most gays and lesbians in America are part of the other half, by the way- is theoretical.

They have no real fear of violence, they have no sense of how the destruction of property and public spaces negatively affects communties, they have no skin in the game. The street violence we've seen this summer is so far removed from their lives, they continually debate whether or not it's really happening.

They aren't small business owners who are having their life's work trashed. These would be the same small business owners who are the building blocks of the gay community.

They aren't workers who've had their careers disrupted, who's employers are shutting down, who's neighborhoods are suffering a sharp increase in violent crime. If they were they would realize what a slap in the face huffing about government relief is.

Checks are nice for the duration of an emergency, but where are our lives going from here? Sitting around waiting to be paid not to die in the gutter is not a life.

Fuuuuuck WHOSE, not who's, on all of those. 😬

At least you know I really didn't go to college.

The main issue I have with immediate defunding is people seem to think you can snap your fingers, take a few million off the police and suddenly there's going to be a large amount of trained mental health professionals, or people trained to deal with the homeless, etc to handle these issues instead of the police. The reality is these departments are going to be crying out for recruits for years while the general public suffers.

[R36] I also am amazed at how tone deaf wealthier people are about Covid. They think everyone can sit at home indefinitely and order grub hub. They feel morally superior doing so, but most of us have to work or we will die. We aren’t all white collar workers. We don’t all have investments and big savings accounts.

R29 In most parts of civilized world they have the police system and it works just fine. We need police reform big time but that’s a separate issue from cracking down on looters and rioters b

[R38] We don’t have mental health facilities anymore. Legally, we can’t do anything for a mentally ill person that won’t take medication or be compliant in anyway. Social workers can only do so much.

This is a great idea. You can't address issued like homelessness and drug addiction by sending in people with guns. And now the people with guns can be deployed when they are needed, which is hopefully less and less moving forward.

I refuse to believe that the United States has a higher percentage of useless degenerates than every other modern country. Our problems are largely the result of a broken system.

I think the time is coming for actual workers (not baristas with BAs) to organize and stick up for ourselves. If only unions did actual labor organizing still.

R42 Cops in large cities don’t bother homeless people UNLESS the homeless are committing crimes or causing public safety hazards. There aren’t enough cops to do that anymore, and now that there’s going to be less police presence, it’s going to be hell for those living in urban areas.

Why did this movement start in the first place? Did it have anything to do with police abuse?

People call police for all manner of reasons, including quality of life issues. What about we have trained non-armed mediators who deal with things like vagrancy or public nuisance? They can de-escalate issues instead of coming in all hot like the cops do.

R45 Not as far as I can tell.

It appears to be an amalgamation of anti-Trump liberals "resisting," people exhausted and angry by the pandemic lockdown, marxist intellectuals attempting to foment an uprising, young black people angry about racism, and some older black people looking to promote police reforms (these would be the daytime protestors.)

The mix of people seems to vary from place to place. Seattle and Portland are mostly socialist agitators, Chicago is mostly angry young black people, Minneapolis was (I think) an explosion of anger about the lockdowns.

The groups are all cooperating because they benefit from each other. The looters get to loot, the anarcho-communists get to destroy, the liberals get to resist.

The main people being fucked over, as usual, are black Americans. Being murdered at higher rates, getting sick and dying at higher rates, getting their neighborhoods and businesses trashed. I'd say the gays are getting screwed too, in a bad way.

How do you de-escalate vagrancy?

R47 pretty much nailed it.

[quote]Not as far as I can tell.

Then you didn't look, r47. Seattle has had police problems, and related protests, for years. The SPD settled with the Justice Department in 2012, agreeing to abide by a Consent Decree and a Memorandum of Understanding.

R47 is pretty much full of shit, R49, which is why he just made up shit and didn't bother to do even a 30-second Google search.

Yeah, R28. We're loading up the buses now. We're loading up the busses now......in cities all over the US. Can't wait to dump all our homeless, crack addicts and criminals on your doorstep.

As we see, African Americans especially are living in a police state.

Time to defund and defang the police

[quote] Minneapolis was (I think) an explosion of anger about the lockdowns.

R47 knows nothing about Minneapolis.

[quote]Defunding means putting that money into social services instead of policing everything. Police shouldn't be in schools and trying to deal with the mentally ill. Their only options are shooting or arresting, neither of which makes any sense in either of those situations.

Oh, you sweet summer child. You have no clue what police officers actually do on a daily basis do you? Much of their job IS social services. But they also protect. When a crazed crack head targets you for a home invasion and he's pointing a gun in your face demanding your ATM PIN #, what then? Will you say "excuse me, sir. Just give me a moment to call a social worker. Help is on the way"? LOL.

[quote] Police shouldn't be in schools and trying to deal with the mentally ill.

Police only started being in schools because of the weapons students were bringing like guns and knives. No teacher should have to deal with that. There was also an escalation in violent crimes in schools both against teachers and students and that prompted the presence of a school officer.

Some people with mental illness can be very dangerous and violent. Many of them also live or hang out on the streets were they interact continually with the public. Who else would deal with this than a police officer.

So I'm just too stupid to see the beautiful miraculous truth of the American Spring, right?

Y'all are weak. How have the riots affected your lives, Rs 50-54? What have you seen? Have you been involved? How do you pay YOUR bills?

I have no idea where they're gonna find these social workers. You'd need balls the size and weight of cannonballs to wade into rageful disputes, crackhead meltdowns, domestic violence situations, etc, armed with nothing but a clipboard and some verbal conflict de-escalation tactics.

I pray this never happens but I have a feeling some of these brave social workers will come to harm.

R56: Mental health workers, dear. Police officers don't deal with the mentally ill, they kill them. It's called suicide by cop. What we have doesn't work and you need to stop pretending that it does.

[quote] Oh, you sweet summer child. You have no clue what police officers actually do on a daily basis do you? Much of their job IS social services.

THAT is EXACTLY the problem. They are not trained in social services yet are forced to do this work. They only arrest or shoot--which is why our prisons are filled with people with mental health problems.

[quote] Police only started being in schools because of the weapons students were bringing like guns and knives.

..and they arrest six years olds who throw tantrums. EXACTLY why we need to get police out of schools. All they know is arresting and shooting people dead, mainly black people

What do you mean where are you going to find these people? Colleges and universities have been churning out social science majors for decades. Plus this is a great job for ex-cons and ex-honeless who may know what people on the street are going through and what help they need.

[quote] Some people with mental illness can be very dangerous and violent. Many of them also live or hang out on the streets were they interact continually with the public. Who else would deal with this than a police officer.

Social workers and psychologists are trained to de-escalate such situations. Police get a few hours of training vs, multiple hours on how to shoot and arrest.

THIS is the whole point of Defund the Police. Don't make police be social workers.

[quote] I have no idea where they're gonna find these social workers.

Social workers are all over the place. Where have you been???

The problem is cities invest in police, not in social workers.

DCFS in IL has DCP (Division of Child Protection) workers who go into homes, adjudicate the situation, and remove children if necessary. They do this without police assistance, often in bad and sometime dangerous situations. There is NO REASON that the Department of Public Health in any state can not have a similar team of Mental Health workers go to situations involving ill people and de-escalate, in the same manner.

So to the people crying about how new and untested this, I say bullshit. We do it already in child protection. This will be the next step.

[quote] When a crazed crack head targets you for a home invasion and he's pointing a gun in your face demanding your ATM PIN #, what then?

That's the problem. The cons pretend people deal with this situation most of the time, when far far far more common is the mentally impaired person yelling crap on the street, being an actual danger to no one.

[quote] I pray this never happens but I have a feeling some of these brave social workers will come to harm.

VS the policeman who can just shoot them, especially because they're black

We have the highest incarceration rate in the developed world, by far.

Feel safe?

Don't you think there's something wrong with 1 in 3 Americans having police records?

R63 I have to wade in here as some who has worked extensively with both police and social workers in the county jail psych and outpatient clinics. You have zero clue what social workers do if you think they are capable of de-escalating the types of situations which require law enforcement officers. In the correctional facilities where social workers are sent to do initial risk assessments before us (psych MDs, NPs, psychologists), they do so with the individuals under restraint and with officers present. Social workers don’t go into potentially violent situations alone and without support nearby.

In the clinic setting, once a patient becomes violent or verbally threatening we call the cops not social workers or psychologists. And if you’re talking about psychologists as in PsychD, who in their right minds would attain doctorate in psychology only to then be subjected to working in dangerous environments as police-lite?

Police departments do need to be pared down and part of budget shifted to mental health and social services. But this Pollyanna-ish plan to use social workers and psychologists out in the field merits more consideration.

R69, no one said social workers would be sent to dangerous situations alone. We are saying that the social worker should use all the tools they can to de-escalate situation rather than relying solely on what cops use—the power of the arrest and guns.

Mentally ill people don’t belong in jails yet that’s exactly what jails have become

[Quote] I have to wade in here as some who has worked extensively with both police and social workers in the county jail psych and outpatient clinics

The problem with this experience is that you only understand the model that is used now. Police bring psychiatric patients to jails and then, in that space, social workers do their thing. It’s still a prison space with prison rules.

Certainly there are violent people that need to be restrained and people protected from them. Honestly, the vast vast majority of psychiatric patients are not violent but get arrested for a number of minor infractions. prisons only make it worse

America’s policing model is a big failure.

Police arrest Black people readily because poor people commit lots of crimes and arresting them fills quotas.

It’s a model that was created and functions to separate whites from Black people and makes blacks pay for city policing with constant tickets and fines

If you think police feel that black people in general are law abiding, I got a bridge to sell you.

police assume blacks are committing crimes and act accordingly

[R72] Police go after low hanging fruit, which is primarily poor people. They harass young people of all races too, because they are more easily intimidated and don’t know their rights. Schools used to teach Civics, and that should be universal. One piece of the problem is our populace being especially vulnerable to abuses due to lack of knowledge.

R74 has never been in an urban classroom. Civics ain't gonna happen. In fact, not much of any learning happens.

R72 No one has claimed vast majority of mentally ill people to be violent. But a good percentage of people who wind up in jail are violent or have potential to become violent. Some of those individuals also happen to be mentally ill.

People who are arrested go through the jail system first. Should there be a determination by the official (police or social worker) on the spot, and those deemed to be mentally ill be processed in a differently? Mentally ill inmates get assessed while under custody in the jail system. The ones who are BSC insane when they’d committed crimes are rerouted to jail psych. Just because they’re mentally ill it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be locked up. In the jail system we had many patients who go between medical correctional facilities (which have psych units) and normal jail.

R71 Part of my experience is also working with social workers. I’m struggling to even name one social worker colleague who’d want to go out on the field working in exponentially more dangerous environments than in the safety of jails, clinics, and hospitals. When I read posts extolling the prospect of social workers responding to domestic disputes or deescalating incidents involving mentally ill people, I don’t see corresponding “but accompanied by....”. Some people expect social workers to be miracle workers under potentially violent situations. They neglect to consider that even under the best or most optimal situations, people are only receptive to help as their mental states allow it.

Basically the more fucked up and violent/ potentially violent these individuals are, the less effective any therapeutic communications are likely to be particularly in uncontrolled environments unfamiliar to responding officials. With the variable of potential violence and unpredictability, many therapeutic modalities that mental health professionals use become less effective.

Guess who is pushing the defund the police movement -- criminals.

R47 nailed it if you're Richard Spencer. Jesus.

[quote]Police only started being in schools because of the weapons students were bringing like guns and knives. No teacher should have to deal with that.

Every teacher I talk to wants police out of schools. Not one of them mentions "weapons" as a concern; I'm sure they're there with or without police. Most teachers I know are concerned about the poor materials (or complete lack of them) and deteriorating school buildings, or concern for their kids well being when they have very little safety net left for poor people.

Maybe you just know... different teachers. Or maybe you're just parroting some racist narrative that you never bothered to question, or that you agree with already. Either way, that's not the real story and you probably do know it on some level.

I've interacted with police multiple times as a white person and every time I've come away feeling worse. Most of them are still quite homophobic, so seeing cop-worship here on DL is always a head scratcher. They are not helpful and they hate the general public no matter what color you are (but they definitely hate black and brown people most of all).

[quote]Mental health workers, dear. Police officers don't deal with the mentally ill, they kill them. It's called suicide by cop.

No. They don't. That's very, very rare, despite what you may believe from a few sensational cases. The vast majority of police interactions do not result in death or even arrest.

[quote] Police only started being in schools because of the weapons students were bringing like guns and knives

Bullshit.

A perfect example of something that should never happen but the only option police can think of. If you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

‘You’re going to jail’: Body-cam video shows an 8-year-old Florida boy arrested at school

The police were at Parkland and we see how little help they were.

May as well try and see if it works.

[Quote] Guess who is pushing the defund the police movement -- criminals.

Wrong—it’s Americans who have seen how worthless the police is when it comes to stopping real crime and instead blame black people for everything.

We’ve tried funding police depts and we just get a lot of racism and homophobia. It’s time to try something else.

Nearly every riot in recent history has been caused specifically because of over policing.

[quote] People call police for all manner of reasons, including quality of life issues. What about we have trained non-armed mediators who deal with things like vagrancy or public nuisance? They can de-escalate issues instead of coming in all hot like the cops do.

That really won't solve the situation. We have too many selfish people that don't know how to behave. Everyone is so proud of behaving any damned way they want. The cops are repeatedly being called to handle behavior problems of trashy people. These "mediators" will be busy solving mostly behavior problems

When I was a kid, I don't remember the police going to anyone's house EVER. We all realized we had neighbors and behaved for the most part. We were a collective society back then. Now it's just "fuck everyone, I'm only worried about me"

We really need to have some kind of talk as a society of what decent behavior is

R88: That's the point. Social Worker Mediators for behavior, not criminal activity.

What BLM should have been fighting for is to make it easier to fire bad police officers. Union reform. The bad cops who kill always have a history of racist and/or violent behavior on the job, but they were allowed to keep their jobs. And that embolden them to escalate their behavior

R90 BLM doesn't care about police reform. It's a means to an end for them.

R79 Do you know what country you live in? How is that even possible?

Every city, every suburb, every small town in America has problems with violent students, drug dealing, and weapons at school.

Do your friends teach at Exeter?

R78 The Brexit/Islamaphobia guy who lives in fucking England? See R57.

[Quote] BLM doesn't care about police reform. It's a means to an end for them.

BLM understand a quite well that “police reform” has been the stock answer for decades now and not much has improved.

It’s a bullshit phrase for a failed system

You know that police state the NRA keeps warning us about?

Black people are living in it

R4

Democrats refuse to accept the concept of unintended consequences.

Considering that black communities are the most supportive of increased police presence, I don’t think this is a winning issue for Democratic politicians.

Let's see how the Seattle experiment works out. Sadly, most of the crime will affect POC. Things really go to shit only when middle class people start getting robbed, killed, etc. that's when the exodus starts. Anyway. Things should start changing soon.

If they invest some of that money even modestly in community centers and youth employment they will see crime go way down.

This will be interesting to follow. Either the reforms work and crime goes down or they don't help at all. And crime gets worse. Does Seattle have a serious crime problem currently?

ANOTHER Repub troll thread. I live in Seattle and all this is bullshit. All these Republican fucktards trying to justify Trump. It's sickening. Seattle is not falling apart. Thank GOD the money is being redistributed. All the Nazi Trumpers need to put a gun in their mouths and pull the trigger. My gift to you. R2 R4 R31 etc, etc, etc.

R101 The only suicide on this thread will be the City of Seattle's.

R100 Yes.

Working remotely will be a boon for those who escape first. The rest will be stuck with $500K homes with million dollar mortgages.

Move to Idaho. Turn it blue.

R105

If you think that dispersal into Idaho would actually turn it blue then you probably think that Kamala Harris is a wonderful vice presidential nominee.

Idaho is the answer. Boise.

[quote]Move to Idaho. Turn it blue

No thanks. You don't get to run away from the mess you created and come here to fuck up our beautiful, safe communities., Stay where you are and clean up your own shit.

They deserve all the shit that’s coming their way. Dumb asses.

Isn't Idaho next door? Perfect place to colonize.

R110, sure. "We turned our beautiful city into a dirty hellhole by destroying any semblance of law & order under the guise of 'justice.' Now we don't want to sleep in the bed we shit. That's for the poors!

Oh, I know, let's move to Idaho and march and protest until they enact the exact same policies! Then after we shit that bed too, we'll move to .... Wyoming? Moose Jaw? Franz Josef Land? I'm sure we'll never run out of beds to shit!"

OP, sounds good to me. as a teacher have had our departments for the public school system defunded by EIGHTY percent. so this is working out quite well for them, OP

R112 You have no fear of being carjacked or broken into. You should, but you don't. You will.

Idaho isn't going to turn deep blue for a while, if colonization gets going in earnest: it'll be like Orange County. It'll take a decade or two. In fact, the Californians moving to Idaho are mostly OC-type conservatives. That type moving from WA will cultivate something adjacent to the cosmopolitan culture that coastal liberals like.

Fleeing your city because of authoritarian leftist politicians might end up making you more conservative.

I remember seeing the 80s movie 'Escape From New York" and thinking that it was a completely unbelievable premise. Now it seems we may have several cities going in that direction. I can't decide if people are more naive or just more stupid.

[quote] What's the explanation for why every city experiencing these riots are run by Democrats?

Name a big city run by a Republican where this isn't happening.

Actually, name a big city run by a Republican. Why aren't Republicans elected in big cities, by the way? hmmmm

Seattle will be just fine. Redistributing money to social services will actually make it run better.

Police Depts haven't a clue how to deal with social situations and the mentally ill. This is what we're in this mess.

[quote] What's the explanation for why every city experiencing these riots are run by Democrats?

What's the explanation of why so many are happening in a country run by Republicans?

Largest Republican run cities:

San Diego, CA

Jacksonville, FL

Fort Worth, TX

El Paso, TX

Oklahoma City, OK

Fresno, CA

Mesa, AZ

Virginia Beach, VA

R120, thanks for verifying.

They're barely cities.

[quote]Seattle will be just fine. Redistributing money to social services will actually make it run better.

Woohoo. Seattle, here we come.

R118, Seattle is fucked up already.

Y'all are acting like there aren't crowds of raging hipsters out setting buildings on fire and blockading roads nightly in Seattle.

Raise your hand if you think they'll stop because they got their way. They'll find new targets.

I live in Seattle. NONE of that is happening.

Yes, the protests are restricted to a tiny part of Seattle, yet that’s all the media is reporting on.

All the trolls talking about how it’s a warzone are lying

I found this:

YLF at the forefront of organizing the nightly events. The black bloc "actions" have moved into the residential areas.

R127 At Goodwill? Up your asshole?

Link, please.

R127 At Goodwill? Up your asshole?

Link, please.

What the hell is YLF? Some of you are ridiculous with the acronyms you use.

Youth Leadership Forum?

The next time a cop is being attacked by a deranged person with a knife, call a Social Worker.

^ No fool, you call the police. The social worker can work with your ex BEFORE he attacks you with a knife for being such a cunt.

All the Democrat cities are filled with riots, homeless and murder. Great job!

Yeah, we get it, R134. You're a mindless MAGAdroid. You don't need to keep proving it.

Scroll down - lots of videos and some are in the residential areas.

There are lots of twitter accounts that just show videos collected off twitter and other sources.

Some of you guys are old and behind the times.

YLF = Youth Liberation Front Seattle Division (@seattleYLF) · Twitter

Every night, we meet at cal anderson @ 7-8 before marching, be there tonight, tomorrow night and the night after #seattleprotest

Get a job, R137.

R138, wtf is wrong with you. You demanded proof and a link so here it is. You're nuts.

Do not feed the Trump Trolls. Like herpes, they never stop.

You really haven't "proved" anything, R139, other than that you cannot read a map. Nothing you've posted contradicts the point that these protests are not widespread and that they are, in fact, "restricted to a tiny part of Seattle."

The same point has been made about Portland.

R141, what was said was that the protests were moving into residential areas. Some posters freaked out and refused to believe it calling the statement bullshit and demanding links.

Those linked videos look like the statement is not bull shit. What can you add to those videos and to the conversation specifically - not vaguely - to negate the premise that they are moving into residential areas?

Just that you still don't know how to read a map and that they haven't "moved into residential areas." It's been the same small area from the beginning, an area that includes that park, some residential areas, and some shops.

Can someone please explain why is Seattle the epicenter of these protests? Isn’t it 90% white millionaires?

Aside from the homelessness, it’s not a crime ridden area. Who cares if they defund their police?

A number of articles about Portland violent protests moving into residential neighborhoods.

[quote] As Portland’s protests against police violence and systemic racism approach 80 consecutive nights, the location of the main action has shifted from downtown to residential neighborhoods on the east side of the Willamette River, bringing crowds of demonstrators and a heavy police force onto usually quiet nighttime streets.

[quote] In downtown Kenton, protesters used wooden items, including picnic tables and road barrier signs, to build a barricade across Denver near Schofield Street. The standoff between police and demonstrators continued past midnight. On Reddit and Facebook, people who live in the area expressed anger about property destruction.

[quote] Just that you still don't know how to read a map and that they haven't "moved into residential areas." It's been the same small area from the beginning, an area that includes that park, some residential areas, and some shops.

R143, are you talking about Portland or Seattle? Try to be clearer.

I think you are just in denial and selling bull shit. There are reports from both Seattle and Portland that the initial areas of protest/riots are expanding. Which should not surprise anyone with half a brain or understanding of the politics of what's going in.

Tell me if you are okay with molotov cocktails being thrown into the one of the federal courthouses (The Hatfield Courthouse) like it was earlier today. Tell me if you are okay with a police building being broken into and fires started inside. Tell me if you are okay with street marchers harassing and accosting people in their homes with threatening behavior.

R141, are you using a walker? Try to keep up. Those maps are from July 24. We have moved on since then.

Let's see how some "mental health professional" deals with a screaming, raging 200 pound man with a knife or gun in his hand. Let's see how they handle THAT.

R144 Because this is ultimately a power grab by rich white people. They're forcing in a sort of theocracy revolving around their hierarchical Social Justice belief system. They are, of course, at the tip-top of the hierarchy ruling like benevolent despots over the little people below.

These protestors don't represent the interests of any oppressed people but they obsess over appearing that they do.

A little off topic, but Andy Ngo has started a rumor that another autonomous zone is being planned in Portland. Wonder how many people will get murdered this time before the National Guard has to clear them out?

I've started a thread to talk about the rioting and political violence in Portland, so we can keep this thread specific to Seattle:

Rumor, R150?

Ngo has usually been right.

R148 At the psych hospitals we would get the mental health aides to restrain them while we get ready the sedative shot to give on the ass as the last resort. Sorry, but that's how it is when you get a violent, out of control, mentally-ill person who's not going to be able to listen to reason. As said in earlier posts, all the therapeutic communication depends upon how receptive the person is, what his/ her mentation is like, because when they're acting crazy and violent there aren't no magic words spoken by social workers or psychologists that'll calm them down. I once suffered a mild subdural hematoma when a seemingly calm (after acting crazy) patient clocked me on the head. There exists the very real element of unpredictability with violent people with behavioral/ mental health problems.

R135 you’re a fucking loser.

ONCE AGAIN. I live in Seattle. NONE of this is going on.

All the libtards in Seattle have homeless people living in there basements and they hate guns and they have 200 pound men raging with a knife and gun and they are sanctuary cities and they are un'merican and Trump 2020!

A $400 million dollar budget cut by $3 million is a .75% budget reduction.

"Budget measures approved Monday will trim about $3 million of the department’s $400 million annual budget this year. The cuts could reduce the police department by up to 100 officers through layoffs and attrition. Seattle has about 1,400 police officers and the reductions fall far short of the 50% cut to the department that many Black Lives Matter protesters were seeking."

I continue to take the cynical view that these cuts are happening because it's a way for cities to cut their budgets without taking a lot of political heat. I'll believe in the wave of increased social services when I see it.

The key thing is getting rid of Trump--you can't have a crook at the top and an expectation of order.

I live in Bellevue, which is a relatively upscale burb across the lake from Seattle. I never go into the city. Haven't for years. They were digging a tunnel under the waterfront, which was a major tourist destination. You could barely get near the waterfront. This went on for years. Bellevue has its own hospital plus another big hospital is in nearby Kirkland. We have a major mall and lots of restaurants. All the amenities you could ever need. The schools are good and there is a community college. There is absolutely no reason to ever go into the city with the transients sleeping on the streets and homeless camps everywhere. Seattle used to be a tourist destination, but who would want to visit now? Sad, because it once was a charming city. I lived here in the sixties and moved back 20 years ago. I love the climate, skiing, hiking and outdoor sports. So sad to see such a magnificent city crumble.

I worked in Bellevue real estate for 19 years. It's full of self entitled wanna be Beverly Hills assholes. A number of our clients ended up in prison for white collar crimes. Embezzlement, tax evasion, etc. Many gung ho Fox "News" watchers. Lots of bleach blonde fake tittied trophy whore/wives, rotten condescending children, McMansions... white bigoted Republican fucks. I can't count the number of shitbags I had to endure. When Obama was elected there were scum with "information" booths on Bellevue Way with posters of Obama with a Hitler mustache and right wing propaganda. If there was a city that deserves be burned to the ground it's fucking Bellevue.

The police unions are the problem. They wield more power than the elected officials at times and whine and whinge when they don't get their way. Destabilize the police unions and then things can change.

I think cities should only hire Black and Hispanic police officers over the next 5 years. This would solve some of the problems with angry white guys beating up/killing minorities. Also, drastically cut back police in all cities (maybe 1 officer for every 15,000 people). If this doesn't work after a period of time, declare martial law. We need something radical.

Police kill more white people than black people.

Black people kill more black people than white people do.

Tell the truth for a change.

Two of those police officers that were with the George Floyd murdering cop were Hmong I believe. The police forces in many large cities are already primarily Black and Hispanic. In New Orleans, I actually can’t remember ever having seen a white cop when I stop to think about it.

R162, the only way I can read your post without considering you a complete imbicile is believing that you must be joking. There is no other way you can rationally defend such an illogical point of view. Police forces are at the mercy of hiring who they have as applicants. In my city there have been regular pleas from the police department to encourage women & minorities to sign up for police academy training. Crickets. Whenever there's news of a new class of hires to the department they're still decidedly white males. (In some cities this is no problem at all.) All the whining about minority representation in the police should be examined by those doing all the bitching & realize that in some areas the minorities need to get involved if they expect to see changes in their police departments. From the tone of your post you have no idea what actual statistics are, nor do you ever expect to need police assistance in your lifetime, because in your suggestion for "1 officer for every 15000 people" you'll never get it.

Hear that R159? You're a Fox News Nazi scumbag so who cares what you think!

R161 You actually have a great point. Departments are no where near as corrupt as police unions.

[quote]Yeah, we get it, R134. You're a mindless MAGAdroid. You don't need to keep proving it.

[quote]R135 you’re a fucking loser.

I rest my case.

[quote]Ngo has usually been right.

Oh, please, R152. This is not only "rumor," it's ridiculous, particularly with that reference to "Antifa." As for being "usually right," all you have to do is check his Twitter feed to debunk that. He's absolutely obsessed with "antifa."

[quote]are you using a walker? Try to keep up. Those maps are from July 24. We have moved on since then.

LOL. Is that really the best you can do? You can't argue with reality so you have to try to pretend ... what, exactly?

The maps in both Seattle and Portland both show exactly the same thing: these are protests over just a few city blocks. And the protesters are a small group in both cases, and even smaller if you look just at those who are committing violent acts. It took Trump's completely botched handling in Portland to massively grow the protests and when he backed down the protests shrank again.

This myth that idiots like you are trying to propagate about a complete breakdown in "law and order," cities living in fear, people quaking indoors and fearing for their lives, and so on is complete bullshit.

[quote]There are reports from both Seattle and Portland that the initial areas of protest/riots are expanding. Which should not surprise anyone with half a brain or understanding of the politics of what's going in.

Uh-huh, and yet, somehow, you can't actually find or confirm those reports. Or come up with any kind of coherent explanation of "the politics of what's going on," despite, apparently, having "half a brain." All you've got is that some Twitter videos, one of which claims to be of a "Blacklivesmatter mob and menacing Biden Harris voters harassing the residents of Seattle suburbs."

The video is real, as far as I know. The notion that it is in the "suburbs" or that these are "menacing Biden Harris voters" or that there has been this massive expansion of either the scope, the area, or the number of protesters is pure fantasy.

There is no way I'd ever live in Bellevue.

[R172], I spent 1973 until 1989 in Bellevue, actually closer to Redmond, where the original Microsoft campus was, just East of there, towards Lake Sammamish. The bike trails are close by, there's no shit graffiti, it's not the Bloody Waltons, people keep to themselves. There's a wrong prejudice about the lack of cultural diversity, but that's because that's what it is, a prejudice.

If things had turned out differently, I might've moved into the home I shared with my parents. God! I stayed over one night after their 50 wedding anniversary and I wasn't going to drive after drinking. I awoke the followig morning to silence I'd not experienced in years. I live on Lower Queen Anne now, and it's very quiet for how close to everything I am. Would I move back to Bellevue? I think I wouldn't automatically say no, but I enjoy not having to own a car to get everywhere.

What I don't look forward to is the possibility of taking care of a dangerous situation because there will be no law enforcement arriving soon enough. I'm not talking about firearms, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to enroll in a self defence class like simple tacts of defending yourself from being mugged, or harassed. I no longer engage with anybody who starts an uninvited conversation on the street. You can call me what you will, but often these people start an innocuous enough chat and end up becoming violent or menacing. And unfortunately, some of them are criminals who prety on the good nature of most people.

***********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

On a different note entirely, and I wish to post this here because of the wide audience DL has... did United or American Airlines have mandatory self defence classes for cabin crew following 9/11? I mean enough to disable a potential hijacker long enough for a Federal Marshall to subdue them, or passengers to neutralize or disarm them?

It begins:

Amazon sent an e-mail to Seattle employees on Thursday asking which office locations they'd like to be relocated to. Options included Redmond, WA and Tacoma, WA.

Um, R174, I used to work for Amazon at their Seattle headquarters. There is no "it begins" here. A lot of high-tech companies have offices on both sides of the lake, mostly because Seattle commuters hate to cross the bridges. Amazon is one of the rare exceptions, at least until now.

If they want to poach developers from other companies, and they definitely do, they need an Eastside option. It's pretty much that simple. Nothing going on in Seattle right now affects Amazon employees or Amazon itself.

R175 They cited Covid and employee taxes, yet waited until this week to make a final decision to move.

R176, from the linked article:

[quote]Even before the pandemic, Amazon considered building more satellite offices outside the city, according to a person familiar with the matter.

and:

[quote]The company plans to expand its Bellevue offices, which it has had since 2017. Such locations are seen as an amenity for employees tired of commuting to Seattle.

So I was wrong that Amazon didn't have an Eastside office -- that arrived after my time there -- although it sounds like the office was nowhere near the size of the Seattle offices.

You're right that their source also said that it was also "as a way to reduce the company's exposure to the city's taxes targeting big employers."

Now what does any of this have to do with the topic of this thread?

[quote] On a different note entirely, and I wish to post this here because of the wide audience DL has

R173, why not just start a new thread?

[quote] I worked in Bellevue real estate for 19 years. It's full of self entitled wanna be Beverly Hills assholes.... Many gung ho Fox "News" watchers.... white bigoted Republican fucks.

For a real state agent you sure don't know your city very well, R160.

Bellevue voted overwhelmingly for Hillary. Not even close.

R177 They don't want risk real estate they're trying to sell getting trashed, so they're passing this off as part of a long process.

A long process which coincidentally coincides with dramatic goings-on in downtown Seattle.

Do any of the Seattleites here know what "historically black neighborhood" this video was taken in?

It's from last night, and shows Black Lives Matter protestors marching through a residential area and yelling at people in their homes. Spouting off a bunch of dumb shit they probably don't mean, in all honesty.

I'd guess it was the Central District, R181.

Stupid punk kids at video at R181 who think they have the right to second guess their parents or grandparents who sold their houses and made a nice profit due to "gentrification".

Their parents and grandparents had the brains to work and save to own homes. These kids are just pissed they didn't hand them their houses or leave it to them in their wills.

Fuck these kids.

There are NO problems in Seattle, stop believing the lies!! There is NO homeless problem, there is NO increase in crime of ANY kind. The protests have been ENTIRELY peaceful with the only violence coming from tRump's military thugs and the SPD (ACAB!). Drug use is down--except for cases of legitimate self-medicating, which is all of them ;)--and contrary to the Alt-right LIES, the police chief is not quitting and is still in the job (ACAB!).

Only MAGAts, racists, racists, and the "proud boys" think otherwise.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

Antifa marched through a residential area of Seattle last night, smashing parking meters and harrassing people who were out in the street. A woman who has no patience for them was following along and livestreaming.

What street is this?

Particularly obnoxious:

Smashing a parking meter chanting "I don't see shit, I don't know shit" while customers at food stand silently sit and watch. The narrator goes on a bitter (jealous!) rant about white privilege.

[quote]Antifa marched through a residential area of Seattle last night, smashing parking meters

1) It wasn't "Antifa."

2) It wasn't a "residential area."

3) "Residential areas" don't have parking meters in Seattle.

R188

1. It was Antifa

2. It was a main road through a residential area.

3. Main roads have parking meters.

Since you know so much, what road was it?

Watch all the videos in this thread. Then comment.

The cities where this degenerate shit is happening totally deserve it. My hope is that they're too stupid and proud to admit they fucked up and fix it, it's just too fun to watch.

[quote] 2) It wasn't a "residential area." 3) "Residential areas" don't have parking meters in Seattle.

People live there. One of the parking meters was smashed in front of an apartment building where people RESIDE. The smashers didn't give a fuck that the residents were walking right by them. Are you saying apartment residences have no right to be safe from violence and property destruction? Or are you a nitpicking legal type of guy who adheres strictly by the zoning codes? Way to support the evil establishment.

Stop defending these morons.

R191 Nazi Anti-American fucktart

When I visited Seattle a few years ago it was conspicuously devoid of POC. I'd say it was 95% white and the rest Asian. I didn't see a black face until I was there for three days.

I think the umbrella people are descendant of this guy.

Wow, what scum. Glad I don't live there.

1) It wasn't "Antifa."

2) It wasn't a "residential area," as you could see by simply watching the video.

3) "Residential areas" don't have parking meters in Seattle.

You really should stop demonstrating just how much of a fool you are.

[quote]Are you saying apartment residences have no right to be safe from violence and property destruction?

Had I meant to write something like that, I'd have probably done so. I didn't. Is foolish strawman arguments all you are capable of?

Mystery solved! They were marching up Broadway Ave. through Capitol Hill.

Here they are harrassing a guy outside his apartment building because he was trying to film them:

The food stand in R187 is Dick's Drive-in.

[quote] Had I meant to write something like that, I'd have probably done so. I didn't. Is foolish strawman arguments all you are capable of?

R198, stop deflecting. Answer the question.

Are you saying apartment residences have no right to be safe from violence and property destruction?

It looks silly to go around attacking parking meters. Like Don Quixote and the windmills. Do something else with more pizazz, protesters.

R202, since nothing I wrote on this thread or anywhere else even remotely resembles that, I'm just going to continue to laugh at your obvious strawman arguments as the desperate and pathetic attempts that they are.

The problem is that all of these idiots crying "defund the police" or "abolish the police" have absolutely no game plan for what should replace the police, or who should do their jobs once they are defunded. Nobody has any game plan. People are essentially demanding a change without having any idea what that change will be.

If this protest has proven anything, it's that the world has gotten too political in the wake of Trump. Now every dumbass on the block thinks they have an informed opinion on complex political issues. Everyone is an activist, and as a result everyone is screaming bullshit slogans without any idea of what will happen if they actually get what they want.

The bottom line is you can't demand a change when you yourself have no idea what the fuck you want that change to be. You can scream defund the police and bitch about power dynamics and brutality all you want, but the truth is none of the people protesting have any fucking clue what is going to fill the void left in the wake of the police being defunded and/or abolished.

Also, I didn't add this because my post would have been to long as a result, but let's see how quickly the people equating the police force to the devil change their tune and start complaining about how police should be their superheroes the second the next school shooting happens.

It's always "ACAB" and all that bullshit until a violent criminal does something a violent criminal does, and then all of the sudden all of the people who were harassing the cops the day before start hiding behind them. They want someone to throw rotten tomatoes at, but they also want the person who they throw rotten tomatoes at to be their knight in shining armor. I'm sorry, kids, but you can't have both.

I think the aftermath of these protests is gonna result in a lot of cops that don't give a shit about doing their job. For the next few decades we're gonna see a lot of police that are disinvested in protecting the public, because why should they when all they get is shit for it? They won't be passionate about saving lives or protecting people from violence because the people they're protecting see them as the enemy. And why would anybody be passionate about protecting a populous that vilifies them at every turn and wants their heads on spikes?

Expect a lot more violent crime in the coming years. Criminals will be rampant because of societal unrest and economic issues, and cops will be in invested in stopping them because of society's attitude towards them. Next time those protestors get held up at gunpoint or have a rapist break into their apartment I hope they think of the time they spent posting threads on Twitter about why all cops are monsters. Because nobody is going to save them in their hour of need as a result.

I moved to a small-ish city-town as a result of being fed up with this kind of shit in big cities and blue states in general. I don't live in a red state, but it's more moderate than places like the West Coast and the Mid-Atlantic states, which is a good balance and keeps things running relatively smoothly.

My fear is that the liberals in these big cities and extremely left-leaning states will drive the protests against the establishments of their areas (government, police, etc) and then eventually bully them into defunding and decreasing establishment envolvement in these cities and states. It'll make them all go to hell, like Detroit, Chicago, and New York in the 70's. The poor will start to live in the same areas as the upper class, crime will go up, and THAT'S when the liberals who started all this shit in the first place will decide they don't want to live in the mess they themselves made.

Then they'll all immigrate to towns like mine, fuck up shit for people like me, destroy the establishment and infrastructure of this town and then move on to the next place to fuck things up. It's not far fetched, liberals have been doing that basically since this country was created. And I worry that day is just around the corner.

R184

That is how you do subtle comedy.

Some people are stupid enough to believe that you are actually telling the truth, but most people actually get it. Kudos.

R190

I had not seen that. These stupid motherfuckers are guaranteeing trumps reelection.

I've seen that too, R207.

That's right, R207. "Progressives" never want to sleep in the bed they shit. They'll move on, and shit in *your* bed, then move on again.

Nor do they learn their lesson. "Oh, 'bail reform' resulted in more crime? That's because there wasn't ENOUGH bail reform! Oh, even more 'reform' resulted even more crime? That's because we need still more reform! Oh, and by the way, the crime increase isn't really real. It's Boris lying again! Oh, and by the way, if it IS real, it's because of injustice, which is caused by the crime victims, so it's only right that they should pay back the criminals. Oh, and by the way, it's getting too hot to handle in this city now -- I'm outta here and back to the burbs! See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!"

R211

It’s like when people point out the failures of the USSR, Vietnam, Venezuela, Cuba, or North Korea and “useful idiots” immediately respond “that wasn’t real socialism!”

Yes, it was real socialism, and over one hundred million people died because of it.

Forgive my cluelessness but what is ACAB again? I saw some kid spray painting it on buildings.

Is that some inside protest joke like call ACAB and not ACOP.

Never mind. I looked it up like I should have in the first place.

ACAB = All Cops are Bastards. Which is what I think people were yelling in those videos.

What are these kids 12?

In one video when one spray painter started putting graffiti on the boarded up windows of a store (may have been ACAB) someone told him to make sure he defaced the building itself and not the temporary boards. Not a piece of video I want to see about my client. A lot of planning is going into these "actions".

Broadway is not considered "residential" and is never referred to as a "residential" area by anyone. It's a street of businesses that includes some apartment buildings, where people do reside. Downtown Seattle also has apartment buildings, but it is never referred to as "residential," even though people live in those buildings too. If you ever got out of your provincial, Trumptard flyover state and experienced things out of your limited bubble, you would know this. As it is, you are just a pathetic example of the Dunning Kruger effect in so many ways.

r215

[quote]Broadway is residential: Protesters are wrong and illegal

[quote]Broadway is NOT residential: PRotesters Rise Up!

Jesus who gives a shit! Is this really an important detail?

I would get to Seattle fairly often back in the 80's. It was a good city with lots to do and I loved eating the salmon and other sea food. There is no way that i would go there now. THis goes for NYC, Chicago and San Francisco. When Covid is under control, I plan to resume my travels. It won't be to any of those cities.

I find it hilarious that the protestors find ways to justify destroying businesses during a pandemic. Especially in New York City, where 80% of the businesses are independently owned non-chain shops. If "protests" like this keep up then hopefully business owners will come to their senses and relocate to the suburbs, as will all the wealthy people who fear for their lives in the city.

[quote]Jesus who gives a shit! Is this really an important detail?

Actually, yes, it is, since it's a deliberate tactic by MAGAdroids to exaggerate the impact of the protests. They're trying to inspire fear with this talk about protests expanding and "moving into residential neighborhoods." None of it is true but that doesn't stop them from trying.

[quote]That is how you do subtle comedy.

Um ... not only was that *not* "subtle," it didn't even remotely resemble anything that anyone on this thread, or anywhere else, is saying. Effective sarcasm has to be grounded in reality. Otherwise, it's just drivel.

R216 It's unjustifiable behavior from the umbrella men, but he has an aching need for it to be acceptable.

So now we're all lying liars telling lies about a street full of apartment buildings being residential. I guess to him residential is cookie-cutter ranch homes and nothing else.

In all fairness the correct term would be "mixed-use" or "mixed-zoning."

[quote]The problem is that all of these idiots crying "defund the police" or "abolish the police" have absolutely no game plan for what should replace the police, or who should do their jobs once they are defunded. Nobody has any game plan.

A 30-second Google search would show you that you are rather idiotically incorrect.

[quote]So now we're all lying liars telling lies about a street full of apartment buildings being residential.

It's not "a street full of apartment buildings," as all of your videos clearly demonstrate. I have no idea why you think lying is an effective tactics but, hey, you do you.

R190 contains several videos of people being harrassed outside of their apartments.

Google maps shows apartments dotted up and down Broadway.

Seattleites here, do people live on Broadway?

R222 Explain what you found on Google, please.

These protests have made me glad I don't live in a major city. I can't imagine what living in an apartment building in an area like that must be like right now. The worst part is that because of the pandemic most people are trapped, so they can't flee the madness even if they wanted to.

R214 Antifa is made up of local cells which share ideology but don't participate in each other's funding, planning, or organizing. They train each other on riot tactics and have online groups where they talk to each other and share propaganda materials but not much else.

Antifa operates by latching themselves onto crowds of protestors and taking control at any point where the crowd becomes nervous. Their goal is to incite physical confrontation with the police. They show up to protests with "supplies" and distribute them to dumb kids and gung ho people on the promise they will be used against the police. You won't ever see an actual anarchist cell member throwing a firework or spray painting a building. They hang back and tell the kids what to write.

The Chicago police have released a detailed breakdown of surveillance video from last night's riot showing the minute the Antifa activists took control of the crowd and initiated violent confrontation with the police. It's worth a watch:

R214 There's also the infamous case of Gabriel Agard-Berryhill in Portland, a teenager with developmental issues who was attending protests in Portland mostly for the thrill of it.

A man in a ski mask handed him something packaged in firework packaging and told him it was a spinner (it wasn't.) The kid originally went to pocket it, but the man told him he couldn't have it unless he threw it. Gabriel then went to throw it in one direction, and the man stopped him and told him to throw it in a different direction.

The "spinner" turned out to be a homemade device much more powerful than a firework. Luckily, Gabriel did a terrible job throwing it so no one got hurt.

R214 There's also the infamous case of Gabriel Agard-Berryhill in Portland, a teenager with developmental issues who was attending protests in Portland mostly for the thrill of it.

A man in a ski mask handed him something packaged in firework packaging and told him it was a spinner (it wasn't.) The kid originally went to pocket it, but the man told him he couldn't have it unless he threw it. Gabriel then went to throw it in one direction, and the man stopped him and told him to throw it in a different direction.

The "spinner" turned out to be a homemade device much more powerful than a firework. Luckily, Gabriel did a terrible job throwing it so no one got hurt.

[quote] There's also the infamous case of Gabriel Agard-Berryhill in Portland, a teenager with developmental issues who was attending protests in Portland mostly for the thrill of it.

Developmental issues. Yea that's the defense I'd be using for my client. Good thinking.

He's already on release for a federal felony - it says probation. I wonder what it is. More shit to look up.

Useful idiots. People need to stop being so gullible and get a bit educated about these movements. They highjack legitimate causes and issues to use them for their own purposes.

R225

Are you fucking retarded? You can’t even use Google?

And I'm sure it'll work out as wonderfully for them as it has for us.

R225 honestly its really easy to use. Come on out from under that rock it’s not as bad as you think! I know by the way the curtain twitchers on here describe it you’d believe you’re gonna be raped every morning as you leave for work but it’s not like that. Twice weekly and murdered every other weekend but you’ll get used to it.

R206 lol the cops don’t care about their jobs and don’t care about the populace they’re supposed to be serving and protecting that’s what all this is about? But they love trump so there’s that! Hope you’re happy with your bedfellows xoxo

^ Kill them all.

What's Google?

I live in Seattle and I'm not particularly worried about the SPD being defunded. They're mostly useless anyway and ridiculously overpaid. Just by capping their ludicrously high salaries, the city could save millions to use on funding social services.

Protestors were near Centurylink field last night.

They apparently caused trouble at the Police Union Building last night but I can't find any video.

I have to wonder what the point is. The City Council already voted to defund the police department. Sooooo... what's the issue?

Who are these "killer cops" on the loose in Seattle?

Rioters attacked the King County Jail yesterday. A KIRO cameraman was harrassed and threatened by "activists" who attempted to prevent him from filming there.

Rioters attacked the King County Jail yesterday. A KIRO cameraman was harrassed and threatened by "activists" who attempted to prevent him from filming there.

"Who do we protect?"

"Black criminals!"

"Who do we protect?"

"Black sex workers!"

I would looooove to know what they think they mean by that 😂 you can see the security guard in background looking... not into this.

I’ve lived on Capitol Hill in Seattle since 1988, R224. Read my response at R215.

[quote] I’ve lived on Capitol Hill in Seattle since 1988, [R224]. Read my response at [R215].

I see. You are the Zoning Freak.

Yes we can see you don't give a shit about the people who do live in these areas. Just like you don't give a shit about the people who have to work at these targeted places or people who just have to get around, you know, to work or for other essential purposes.

They went to the jail because one of their violent assholes assaulted someone that morning and got arrested. They demanded he be released which, of course, can't happen while they are causing a riot at the jail. Idiots. So their friend and any other prisoners due to be released had to wait for this to end. Maybe some got stuck in jail longer than necessary and were deprived their freedom.

so it seems like people in seattle are generally ok with the protests

[quote] so it seems like people in seattle are generally ok with the protests

I think they are just too stupid or have their heads too far up their asses to understand the full implications of allowing this to get this bad and for so long. The protests have pretty much become performance art for idle preeners. None of this destruction or violence or harassment of others is necessary. It fuels opposition to any just cause they think they're fighting for. Except the Marxists, this is exactly what they want.

Reposting it for those who missed it up thread.

[quote]Defunding means putting that money into social services instead of policing everything.

[quote]Police shouldn't be in schools and trying to deal with the mentally ill. Their only options are shooting or arresting, neither of which makes any sense in either of those situations.

What they are doing is removing the budget money from the police force that would be used to militarize the force. No more tear gas or other weapons used in war. Need more support? Call in the SWAT team.

All for paying cops well as long as they behave. They don't need to be the military.

They need to be the military with all the trash they have to deal with.

Oh, my sides....Seattle doesn't really have much to deal with. The homeless problem is terrible but as for actual violent crime, it's very cream cheese here. Our murder rate is ridiculously low for a major U.S. city.

For any kind of theft, they do very little unless it's something like a black kid stealing a steak from a grocery store...then, they'll call out 6 squad cars. Your apartment gets broken into or your car stolen the cops just shrug their shoulders.

Oh, and they used to be RIDICULOUS about jaywalking....they ticketed people left and right for that outrage!

Seattle business owner moving shop out of downtown due to increasing violence

R251 Wow....that's a super smart business owner!

Moving his business to West Seattle...which is currently cut off from the rest of the city due to the main bridge that connects the two being shut down due to structural problems, is a BRILLIANT idea!

Dumbass.

^What benefit is there in staying in an area no one visits due to violence and crime?

There is no violence and crime here. I live here. Real estate is booming, even during the pandemic. Everyone wants to move here. You are lying.

Get ready, R254!

R254 Is like Scarlett O'Hara. "Fiddle dee dee, there isn't going to be any war!"

No one is visiting because we're in the middle of a pandemic and there are no tourists in Seattle right now.

And, his business was in Pioneer Square which only tourists go to...locals stay away from Pioneer Square for the most part, because it's full of homeless people. The only times it's popular is when there are games at the stadiums right next door.

no games + no tourists=no business

R256 is a trumptard. There IS NO WAR IN SEATTLE. There are only a handful of BLM protests. And there SHOULD be BLM protests. Just today we're learning about the man shot in the back 7 times. For doing nothing. That's WHY there are protests, asshole. Black people are being killed outright. It has to stop. Trump's racist terror squads are not wanted in Seattle. There is no war in Seattle.

R258 I never said there was a war, you illiterate reactionary invalid. There is anarchy, which is far different from a war. Riots are less structured than war.

I was referencing a character from a book/movie that denies the impending threat of chaos that everyone else knows is coming, but then again I shouldn't be suprised that the reference flew over your head, it's clear that you can't read. Well, at least that you can't read anything that is above 140 characters.

R259 lol chill out with the histrionics.

[quote]Just today we're learning about the man shot in the back 7 times. For doing nothing.

Link?

R261 go on any news site. A proper one not your usual favourited ones tho. No not stormfront. Or fox. Or kkktoday.

All the cities in the most distress have been democratic ruled for decades. Discuss.

Just wait until I defund their post office!

Trump Trolls be gone. THIS IS NOT YOUR SITE.

There's too many cops and they are overpaid.

This is working out well for Trump.

No, it's not.

Even the black ones. R266?

Jenny Durkan's "Summer of love" tweet got mocked at the RNC last night.

R269 How long will it take you to realize that this isn't about them defending black people, it's about them hating cops. None of these protestors give a shit about black people, they just hate police.

Why would anybody hate police that murder black people on a nearly daily basis?

R272 Because they don't, Rose. This isn't Apartheid South Africa. It isn't even comparable.

If only black people would just kill themselves. That would solve everything.

Last night, per MyNorthwest:

"Rioters tried to burn Seattle police alive, sealed door during fire at East Precinct"

So that black guy who got shot in the back 7 times did it himself. Obvious lameocrate plant. Black people are shooting themselves, and trying to blame the police.

The police should just stop doing their jobs. Go on strike, head home for maybe a month or so. And I don't mean replace them with something else, I mean no police force nation wide for about a month or two. No answering 911 calls, no protection, no nothing. Show the nation what happens when the police are REALLY defunded and/or abolished. We need the wake up call.

Seattle will be a model city of civic responsibility where monies will go to help the mentally challenged, the poor, and others who need it, thus reducing crime by a large percentage, while at the same time, creating a smaller, more responsible police force that works with the community rather than against it.

Oh wait. This is Datalounge, home of the Russian trolls and right-wingers. Sorry. I mean, Seattle will be a mess! Ugly dark people will take over! Life will end! Dinosaurs will return!

R277 I hope you get a wake up call tonight of plain clothes police bursting into your house with a no knock warrant and....well you know the rest. Let us know how it goes.

Yes Russian terrorist no knocks are the best, comrade.

R279 I hope you get a wake up call tonight of drug addicted thugs bursting into your house for a home invasion and....well you know the rest. Let us know how it goes.

Trolls never quit. You have to kill them.

[quote]Seattle will be a model city of civic responsibility where monies will go to help the mentally challenged, the poor, and others who need it, thus reducing crime by a large percentage, while at the same time, creating a smaller, more responsible police force that works with the community rather than against it.

LOL. Aw, bless your dumb little heart. What "monies"? We're all leaving.

R282 Enough with the murder talk please. Either make your point or move on.

[quote] Seattle will be a model city of civic responsibility where monies will go to help the mentally challenged, the poor, and others who need it, thus reducing crime by a large percentage, while at the same time, creating a smaller, more responsible police force that works with the community rather than against it.

Honey, come back down to Earth. Jesus Christ.

The police should just abandon Seattle and let it go to the dogs. If they don't want police then they shouldn't have them. In fact, it'd be great if all of the police departments in major cities where these riots and protests took place/are taking place would simply pack up and relocate to more rural areas that actually NEED police departments and won't protest against their existence.

These cities don't deserve the police. Let them crumble into themselves, give them the Lord Of The Flies situation they crave so much. But don't let them attack the police and try to burn the precincts to the ground while simultaneously giving them the police's protection.

R286 or the police force should be restricted to appropriate functions. It’s not that the citizens don’t want police, they just don’t want police in situations where someone else would do a better job. Social workers roles should be expanded. The police budgets for dumb shit they don’t need should be contracted and social programs given more resources. If you take a trip through the safer neighbourhoods in cities, what you’ll notice is more resources not more cops. Allowing cops to murder people and giving them army grade equipment isn’t going to improve anyone’s quality of life.

R286 = Donny Jr. and his coke-fueled wife.

R277 Copless Shrugged

Mayor Jenny was an emergency special guest on Rachel Maddow tonight to issue a rebuttal to SD Governor Kristi Noem's inflammatory speech at the RNC where she characterized Seattle as being overrun by mobs.

Durkan claimed violent crime is down 5% in Seattle this year, which I honestly don't believe. She has to be fudging that statistic, or they aren't counting certain crimes as violent.

Also Seattle today- in broad daylight!

Harrassing people outside their homes today:

SPD currently kettling a crowd of protestors- much ado because they are shoving the ones who won't move back and have maced a few people:

Kitty Shackleford, KKK kumdump.

I don't care if he fellates Putin to orgasm daily. The videos are what matters.

He does do EVERYTHING Putin wants....

R290

Last I heard, they hadn't updated the 2020 statistics in several months. Durkan is going by pre-Floyd crime statistics, which also have been in doubt for a while. Many residents aren't reporting crimes because it's not worth the trouble when our city attorney just lets the offender go. I was assaulted by a vagrant last fall, and I didn't report it.

This will end in tears.

Seattle has been pouring money into non-profits for years with zero accountability.

One organization that's been trying to divert non-violent offenders from jail has been operating for almost a decade and still can't prove the program works.

On New Year's Day, a young man who was let off the hook on an illegal gun charge last summer killed another young man. The conditions of the killer's jail diversion was to undergo anger management with another unaccountable non-profit that receives city funds. He never showed to those appointments, the organization never notified the prosecutor's office, and now the guy who runs the non-profit has his hand out for former SPD "monies".

The social worker thing is a pipe dream. The only way that would work is by sending social workers with police, and that costs more money, not less.

Seattle's incompetent leadership has been coasting on the city being fairly non-violent by default since it's full of a bunch of uptight white collar workers, but defunding police on this level will bring that to an end. Majority minority neighborhoods will be hurt most of all, but heads won't start rolling until the crime and violence seeps into white neighborhoods. Meanwhile, serious black activists generally want more and better police, not this.