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Ferguson and the Changing Attitudes Towards Cops
American Thinker ^ | 8/17/2014 | C. Edmund Wright

Posted on 08/18/2014 4:45:30 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross

One of the fascinating layers of the Ferguson riot story is how this tragedy has exposed what is a rapidly changing attitudinal climate towards law enforcement officers (LEOs). What was for years a stable predicate -- conservatives being reflexively ‘law and order’ and inherently giving cops the benefit of the doubt -- while liberals with the built in ACLU type disdain for cops tending to always assume the worst of those in power – is now a vortex of confusion, cross currents,and contradictions.

It’s not a total flip-flop of the convention, but it’s moving in that direction. After all, we’ve seen Rand Paul and Eric Holder agree on this in the past week. Did I mention confusing and contradictory?

Consider: many young liberals have of course discovered a love for big government, and take to Twitter and Facebook to support cops harassing Tea Party types and Nevada ranchers just as they cheer the IRS and Lois Lerner persecuting conservative business people and political groups. Meanwhile, liberal voters in Boston cheered their ‘Boston Strong’ reaction to the Marathon bombers, which to me looked a lot like an entire city cowering from a wounded young teen -- while LEOs with Seal Team Six fantasies trampled on every liberty they could for 48 hours -- brandishing Kevlar, automatic weapons, neo-Nazi style helmets and riding around neighborhoods in hummers and kicking down doors.

The media, long willing to challenge the cops and take the victim's point of view, have been silent, or even dismissive, of recent fears by the right of militarized police departments and massive ammo buys by the Feds. Worship of Obama and support for public sector unions has trumped their former concerns apparently.

The old model of “neighborhood cops” -- who walk a beat in their blues ....

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ferguson; leo; police
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To: gusty

.

Hopefully you never have to use those dreaded cops or have to call them as well as your family.


21 posted on 08/18/2014 5:31:25 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Are you friggin kidding me.
You stated that there is no radical liberaltarians on here this weekend.

Yet again you make an assumption, was you on here all weekend? No , but I did argue with three of them.\\


22 posted on 08/18/2014 5:33:58 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: manc

To some, I do. But you are trying to drill down to the micro and refuse to connect dots in the macro. If you think cops are not now armies controlled by liberal politicians and bureaucrats, then you are not paying attention.

If you think this militarization of police forces, along with government agencies, are not connected, you are not paying attention. If you think unionized cop shops are any friends of conservatives, you are not paying attention.

That’s the whole point. Policing is now far too often an arm of liberal big government. As an arm of big government power, they are enemies of a FREE REPUBLIC.

I mean does FR mean Free Republic still to you? Or does it mean just a certain strain of dogmatic opinions?


23 posted on 08/18/2014 5:34:01 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: manc

The one thing the progressive left & liberaltarians have in common is painting with a very wide brush, and totally ignoring history.

You know like portraying the “neighborhood cop” of yesteryear as something far better than the “gestapo” police of today.
You know the sweet “neighborhood cops” that would at dusk pick up the stray negroes traveling through town & knock them about before dropping them off outside the edge of town. The sweet “neighborhood cops” that (pre-Miranda) would beat a guy into a forced confession. The sweet “neighborhood cops” that would form a posse at the drop of a hat (when a scared person would blame a negro for a crime) and hunt down the first negroes they could find & lock them up. The sweet “neighborhood cops” that would always look the other way in domestic fights because a woman should obey her man. The sweet “neighborhood cops” that would brush off almost all rape cases because a woman was just asking for it or making it up.

You know those sweet “neighborhood cops”, those are what the esteemed cop haters would rather we have.


24 posted on 08/18/2014 5:34:09 AM PDT by brent13a
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To: manc
Those who hate cops hate them because they want their drugs etc legal and hate it if they are stopped.

Horsehockey. I myself dislike the militarized police IMMENSELY because I don't like being "confronted" by "swarms of overpaid officers" everywhere I turn, and I don't like paying the exorbitant taxes demanded at gunpoint to equip the Pretend Sojers with military gear, to fuel their fantasies of being Special Forces "operators".


25 posted on 08/18/2014 5:35:27 AM PDT by kiryandil (making the jests that some FReepers aren't allowed to...)
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To: manc

It depends on what you consider conservative. If someone has conservative ideas on a few social issues, but loves big government’s handouts and the raping of the taxpayer. That is not what the vast majority of conservatives consider conservative. They would see that as the big government hackarama.


26 posted on 08/18/2014 5:35:39 AM PDT by gusty
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To: C. Edmund Wright

In every paragraph you have made an assumption and that;s fine but to me you are wrong.

You don’t know if I have paid attention, you don’t know who I know who are cops, and go and tell Jim Robinson that cops are not friends of FR as he seems to have a different view and he is the sites owner.


27 posted on 08/18/2014 5:35:55 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: Servant of the Cross

It’s time to stop being useful idiots for the totalitarian Left by giving the benefit of the doubt to local law enforcement. The local PDs are being militarized, and increasingly federalized. The move of local LEOs to the Left parallels previous movements of the educational and government establishments (including Federal law enforcement) to the Left.
If you’re a conservative and can’t see this coming, you’re just deluding yourself.


28 posted on 08/18/2014 5:36:19 AM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)
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To: manc

Once again, you are trying to zero in on a micro factoid and totally not able to make a big picture assessment.

I didn’t see the radical libertarians on FR this weekend. Maybe some were there, but set those aside. Mark Steyn is not a radical libertarian. Neither am I. Neither are a lot of folks who have noticed the changing nature of LEOs.

But it’s all irrelevant….you haven’t laid a glove on anything I’ve said.


29 posted on 08/18/2014 5:36:23 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Meant to say well written article, too.

Cops today are part of a bureaucracy. Very few will fight it or go against it. Many have come to embrace it. They started with the unions and now the police unions are in league with management. The public is no longer invited to the negotiating table.

I have gotten to the point where I do not trust ANY gov’t functionary. Period.


30 posted on 08/18/2014 5:36:53 AM PDT by raybbr (Obamacare needs a death panel.)
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To: manc

Does your husband know you go crying to teacher to tattle?


31 posted on 08/18/2014 5:37:15 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: brent13a

Yea I can see those who have been using this incident for their personal agenda, sad really.
Times have changed, cops were being shot at last night, guess it was their fault.
SARC

I’m getting to the point where I can’t talk to liberaltarians pretending to be conservatives anymore


32 posted on 08/18/2014 5:38:19 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Waaay past its sell date. Most are strongly supportive of their unions which have and continue to hide and obfuscate the corruption that exists in every big city police department. The political correctness of the hiring practices also indicate the politics of the police are closer to teachers than any other group.


33 posted on 08/18/2014 5:38:57 AM PDT by Solson (The Voters stole the election! And the establishment wants it back.)
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Good grief.
Thank you for reminding me


34 posted on 08/18/2014 5:39:09 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: manc

I would prefer to be allowed to protect my family and self, myself, if you know what I mean. The police are not there to protect you. They are there to investigate who killed you after the fact. They just draw the chalk line around the corpse.


35 posted on 08/18/2014 5:39:12 AM PDT by gusty
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To: brent13a

You haven’t made a single point except by trying to totally distort the other side. You cannot lay a finger on the salient positions. You are doing what liberals always do, set up straw men to knock down.

It’s easy to knock down the straw man of radical libertarians. It’s easy to knock down the straw man of Al Sharpton and Eric Holder. Big deal. We all agree on that.

Maybe you should stay at the childrens’ table where the easy stuff is discussed, and leave the more complex and changing issues to the adults.


36 posted on 08/18/2014 5:40:17 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (www.FireKarlRove.com NOW)
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To: gusty

agree on that.
They are mostly reactive while you can be proactive


37 posted on 08/18/2014 5:40:43 AM PDT by manc (Marriage =1 man + 1 woman,when they say marriage equality then they should support polygamy)
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To: ArtDodger

But now, with the NG having been called up, it has become a NO WIN situation, PERIOD.


38 posted on 08/18/2014 5:42:40 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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To: manc

I suggest you read history. All armed groups are loyal to those who pay them. This has been true since the days of Sulla. Our Founding Fathers understood this. That is why they were deathly afraid of standing armies.


39 posted on 08/18/2014 5:43:25 AM PDT by gusty
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To: kiryandil

But when you have the NG called who have REAL weapons, you are in a NO WIN situation.


40 posted on 08/18/2014 5:44:57 AM PDT by Biggirl (“Go, do not be afraid, and serve”-Pope Francis)
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