A Fullerton resident who was arrested after protesting the acquittal of officers involved in the death of Kelly Thomas said police laughed and joked about having a license to kill while asserting, “There’s a pack of 12 cops waiting to smash your fucking faces in.”
30-year-old Adam Walder was thrown into a paddy wagon after riot cops ordered demonstrators to disperse during a protest against the ‘not guilty’ verdict which saw Officer Manuel Ramos and Officer Jay Cicinelli acquitted on all charges of manslaughter and murder.
Kelly Thomas, a mentally disabled homeless man, was beaten, tasered, suffocated and pistol whipped as he lay on a street corner being sat on by no less than six police officers during an incident in July 2011. During the disturbing video of the beating, Thomas can be heard pleading for his father, moaning, “Daddy, daddy, they are killing me,” as officers prolong the assault.
Before the assault, Ramos told Thomas, “Do you see my fists?” They’re getting ready to fuck you up.”
According to the jury in the case, Thomas just coincidentally chose to die of an undiagnosed heart condition in hospital five days after the savage beating having never regained consciousness.
Describing the incident that occurred during the subsequent protest, Walder said he was grabbed by cops after refusing to obey the dispersal order quickly enough and thrown into a police van with several other demonstrators.
While being transported to jail, Walder said the police were laughing and grinning. During the journey, one of the cops leaned over to the protesters and with “malice in his voice” said, “There’s a pack of 12 cops waiting to smash your fucking faces in.”
Another officer then immediately remarked, “And I’ve got two words for all of you, ‘NOT GUILTY,’” prompting laughter amongst all the other cops.
This was clearly a reference to the acquittal of the two officers involved in the Thomas beating. The cops were literally laughing and chuckling about the fact that they can get away with the murder of innocent people.
Speaking of which this website has all kinds of related goodies.
http://www.cafepress.com/thinblueline
Enjoy!
The Thin Blue Line
What is it and what dose it stand for? The black stands for all the officers whom gave their lives, the officers who gave the ultimate, the ones we will not forget.The blue stands for all officers currently serving together.
An officer is an officer no matter what agency they work for. From the big city to the small rural commuinties we are all police, we are all involved in the same battle, Good vs. Evil.
Show your support for each other by proudly displaying the Thin Blue Line tm. When you see others with the it on the car, truck, boat, rv, on a shirt or a hat, introduce your self, make new contacts, we are the blue line.
Welcome members of the thin blue line, to Thin Blue Productions on – line store. The law enforcement, Fire & EMS officers “one stop” shopping source for thin blue line Products. shirt, hat, hoodie, hat, boxers, sticker, decal, and mugs. On line e-mails, order confirmation, and order status, are some of the tools we offer for you to track every step of your thin blue purchase. Thanks for stopping in and please tell your friends about our shop. Stay Low and Stay Safe. for police, Fire and EMS officers.
I don’t know about you, but I got all choked up inside as I read this.
Not!
As a young person I read the book, ‘The Thin Blue Line’. Then I went and crossed that border they defended in a way they didn’t permit. It was there I learned they were full of it.
Dear Pan,
FYI:
The Thin Blue Line (1988) – Full Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUJfrW1hNBk
The Thin Blue Line is a 1988 documentary film by Errol Morris, depicting the story of Randall Dale Adams, a man convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a murder he did not commit. Adams’ case was reviewed and he was released from prison approximately a year after the film’s release.[2]
No, that’s not it at all, Bevin. Perhaps I got the title wrong? I thought ‘The Thin Blue Line’ was about cops on the border of California and Mexico. Maybe the book and the film aren”t the same?
After I went there and lived it, I found the book to be Very descriptive and accurate. I’m almost certain that’s the name of it. But your link is not it.
Dear Pan,
Duly noted! Looks like quite a few people have tackled the problem of police abuses.
I looked for awhile, it was a very popular book in the 1980’s. I’m surprised it doesn’t come up after page 10 in a search. Not everything is on the internet.
That’s actually nice to know.
“Not everything is on the internet.” There was a time… oh, never mind.
The concept – ” … we are all involved in the same battle, Good vs. Evil.” – is good.
The problem comes when you DEFINE yourself as one of those poles. IE, I’m good BECAUSE I’M A COP. There’fore, I have GOD on my side… Therefore, I AM GOD.
It’s an external locus of control – by putting on the uniform, you become a power unto yourself, answerable to none.
Psychopathic (narcissitic, at least; others may manifest, too) from the start.
Internal Locus of Control is essential:
BECAUSE I AM A MAN WHO TRIES TO EMULATE GOD, I put on this uniform to help those in need, to maintain peace and order, so that others may be free of fear and worry.
[God being seen as a “universal good”, I’ve used God as the reference point. Could be any deity or ethos or hero, too – I.E., Buddha; Confuscious; etc. But please note the difference: It is a FALLIBLE MAN who is EMULATING the GREATEST GOOD – not a man who BECOMES the greatest good because of the uniform he wears. Hope that was clear.]
Sort of like this:
The Warrior Creed
By Robert L. Humphrey
(Iwo Jima Marine)
——————————————————————————–
Wherever I go,
everyone is a little bit safer because I am there.
Wherever I am,
anyone in need has a friend.
Whenever I return home,
everyone is happy I am there.
——————————————————————————–
I think the modern pigs fall short on all three of Mr. Hoban’s points.
THAT by itself should tell them all they truly need to know…
Good find, Jean! Love that guy. Here’s more:
Something To Live For
One American in the truck said, “This place stinks.” Another said, “These people live just like animals.” A third said, “They just don’t value life the same as we do.” Finally, a young air force man said, “Yeah, they got nothin’ to live for; they may as well be dead.”
But just then, an old sergeant in the truck spoke up. He was the quiet type who never said much. In fact, except for his uniform, he kind of reminded you of one of the tough men in the village. He looked at the young airman and said, “You think they got nothin’ to live for, do you? Well, if you are so sure, why don’t you just take my knife, jump down off the back of this truck, and go try to kill one of them?”
There was dead silence in the truck.
Humphrey was amazed. It was the first time that anyone had said anything that had actually silenced the negative talk about these local people. The sergeant went on to say, “I don’t know either why they value their lives so much. Maybe it’s those snotty nosed kids, or the women in the pantaloons. But whatever it is, they care about their lives and the lives of their loved ones, same as we Americans do. And if we don’t stop talking bad about them, they will kick us out of this country!”
Humphrey asked him what we Americans, with all our wealth, could do to prove our belief in the peasants’ equality despite their destitution? The Tennessee sergeant answered easily, “You got to be able to look them in the face and let them know, just with your eyes, that you know they are men who hurt like we do, and hope like we do, and want for their kids just like we all do. It is that way or we lose.”
– – – –
The Deeper Value
By your guess, why does that equality concept when communicated with emotional impact possess that kind of magic-like power?
In answer, we learned through in-depth attitude studies that in the minds of the common folk, the equality-concept represents the life-value, life itself. That is, it represents to them life versus death.
And they are right. That is clear in the dictatorial societies. If you can break peoples feelings of equality, it seems to make them sick and weak — easier to control, easier to kill without their fighting back.
– – – – –
The Hobo
Robert Heinlein, in a graduation address to a class at his alma mater, the U.S. Naval Academy, told this true story from his childhood: One day while strolling through a park in Kansas City, he and his mother saw a young woman get her foot caught in the tracks at a railroad crossing.
The husband desperately tried to free her as a train came charging down on them from around a curve and far to fast to stop before the crossing.
As Heinlein and his mother watched that terrifying tragedy, a hobo suddenly appeared “walking the tracks.” He joined the husband’s futile effort to pull the woman free. But tug and twist as they did, they could not get her out.
The train killed all three of them.
Heinlein observed in his description of the vagabond’s effort that he did not so much as look up to consider his own escape. Clearly, it was his intention, either to save the woman or to die trying.
Heinlein concluded his account of the nameless hobo’s action with this comment: “This is the way a man dies,” but he then added, “and this is the way a man lives.”
In our Cold-War programs, both overseas and here in America, we always asked our audiences: What did Heinlein mean, This is the way a man lives? He died!
The audiences could seldom fully explain their acknowledged appreciation of Heinlein’s words. But they always knew that it was not a slip of the tongue. They always realized that the idea had a solid meaning for all of our lives.
Full discussions usually spelled-out the conclusion that it is probably the happiest formula for our lives if we live a generous, noble life (for benefit of the human species) rather than to lead a selfish one even though, in some cases, possibly a longer one.
Is it in your permanent memory why the stories are needed? Recall that moral/ethical values can be taught (activated) only with emotional impact — and not through mere intellectual understanding.
For the emotional impact, they must be taught, (1) through all those years of childhood experience in the family, or (2) (our Cold-War finding) from materials that, (a) teach the basic life- value (as the only ROOT-VALUE that really works wonders), and (b) that delivers the emotional impact from that life-or-death choice, vicariously felt.
– – – – –
Culturally Conditioned
The most angry challenge I encountered during the Cold War was from a military officer who said he was also a psychologist and follower of Ayn Rand.
He insisted that all heroics in combat or anywhere are all culturally conditioned behavior with no possible natural roots. He yelled, “Such self-giving actions could not possibly be natural against that well-known first law of nature, self-preservation. They are only culturally conditioned in!”
In his book, African Genesis, Robert Ardrey tells a life-and-death story of some baboons and an old leopard. Baby baboons seem to be the favorite food of the big cats. So, when a troop of baboons is foraging, they stay in a military formation with the biggest males out front where they can quickly gang-up on and try to drive off any hungry leopard that they chance to encounter.
In Ardrey’s true account, one of the big cats had surprised a troop of baboons just as it was breaking up its formation to make camp for the night. The huge predator calmly surveyed the terrain, picked his evening meal, probably a baby-baboon, and gathered himself for his explosive attack.
He arrogantly ignored two old male baboons cautiously edging along an overhanging cliff just above him. Two baboons are far too few to cope with the powerful slashing fang-and-claws of the big spotted professional baboon-killer.
Nonetheless, that evening, the two males dropped on the leopard in a suicidal attack. One bit at his spine while the other tore at his throat while hanging to his neck from below. He instantly killed them both. He disemboweled, with his hind claws, the one at his throat; while simultaneously turning his head and biting to death the one on his back.
But as Ardrey reported, it was too late. The dying disemboweled baboon on the leopard’s neck had hung on just long enough and had bitten through to the juggler vein. And as Ardrey said, somewhat in triumph for all the underdogs of the world, a society of animals settled down safely to sleep that night.
After reading that story to the audience that listened with pin-dropping silence, I looked at the Captain who was standing near the back of the room and asked, Captain, can you explain how those two old male baboons got so well culturally conditioned?
http://www.lifevalues.com
The crowd exploded in laughter. They turned to look at the red-faced captain. Some even stood up to get a good look. He turned around and left.
I do. In tears. As in, crying for the state of our country. This cartoonish “good VS evil” bit is insane. Its not that simple, and its probably closer to the “thin blue line” being the bad guys…
I think it’s time to meet force with force, kumbaya just doesn’t cut it anymore. The residents of that town should find a way to burn down the cop shop with all the thugs trapped inside, or arm themselves with shotguns and blow them all away some morning at rollcall. It’s clearly the only way to send the message that us mundanes are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
It may just come to that. In this case, certainly, it’s a truly obnoxious affront. Unless I’ve not got all the facts – and I’ve read about this case pretty extensively – these thugs murdered that man, plain and simple. For them to just walk away is absolutely outrageous.
Yup I agree. If that were my son so help me god I would be Rambo times ten. I often wonder how many more straws the camel can take.
I really hope the jury was threatened into that verdict, otherwise we’re truly hopeless.
I didn’t even watch the video, but I heard from those who did. That was unbelievable.
Why is it tolerated?
David asked, “Why is it tolerated?”
Possible Answer: “In a time of universal deceit,
telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” – George Orwell.
Or, it’s because they like it like that?
Hi David,
A big factor is voir dire – jury selection – in which the prosecution especially does everything conceivable to weed out any prospective juror who might do otherwise than “do as instructed” by the judge. In particular, who might – gasp! – interpret the law for himself, or follow his conscience, irrespective of “the law.”
Thus, you have a group of people selected for the ability to moo like cows in affirmation whenever the judge “instructs” them – and who will ignore what ought to be obvious, egregious violations of the actual law, to say nothing of common decency.