Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

I Said, Hey... What's Going On?


Dolfan in NYC
Message added by jaedmc,

We know. It's hard. But we don't want to moderate your political discussion.

Going against these wishes will result in a suspension.

Recommended Posts

I'm very happy that my insane boredom on the road lead to so much roadkill discussion ???

I should start an Instagram of just roadkill pics in my travels.

I also thought I could start an entire IG account of pics where I find empty nips of Fireball. Those things are almost as prevalent across this great land as dead deer.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Black Lives Matter Rally in Winnipeg

We had a really good rally in Winnipeg tonight. Definitely the largest protest I've ever seen here, bigger even than any Pride parade I've been at. I'm terrible at guessing crowd sizes, but 8-10 000 people would be a reasonable number I think. Most people I saw were in masks and were trying their best to keep some space between everyone, though that was an impossible ask. Winnipeg has mostly dodged the Covid bullet, so no one wanted to put anyone at risk after we've done so well here with social distancing.

I didn't do the march to the Human Rights Museum, as I live right by the rally point, but there are some great overhead shots that have made there way around Twitter.

Minimal police presence. Some pretty conspicuous undercover vehicles on corners and their ridiculous helicopter circling overhead, but they smartly kept patrol cars and uniformed members away. They also got caught in a lie today, as they announced online that they had contacted nearby property owners about keeping windows closed and being careful since so many people are in the area. They stated that they do this anytime there is a downtown event, like the Jets playoff parties, but a bunch of property owners called them out that they have never been contacted like this before. One property manager was even told to make sure his foyer was locked so that people couldn't shelter inside. ?

Anyway, some pretty emotional speeches and lots of really positive people.

  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the cool things about working for the county is that you'll get a pay raise for having a degree. It took me a good three months to get my transcripts, because of the pandemic, but I finally got them. I dropped them off at HR, and on Tuesday I signed the paperwork to officially get my raise. Not only that, but I'll have been with the county for one year next week. Which will mean my yearly evaluation, and another pay raise. 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 As for my social studies Praxis: veni vidi vici. 194 out 200. So now I'll be able to be certified as a social studies teacher, which will open up far more job opportunities than just history. Although I'd still rather teach history, its a bit harder than government(which is pretty easy, just very boring) haven't decided whether I'd prefer pre1877 or post 1877 yet. Not that I would be picky if offered either of course. Other than that, Poky is still staying out of history's way, with some minor protests, but nothing else.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see several deer carcasses every day when driving around the beltline. That's what happens when you build more and more suburban sprawl and decrease the natural habitat of these animals. One day years ago I was driving in a pretty rural area when a semi in front of me ran over a deer corpse and splattered a bunch of gore on my windshield. I got off on the next exit to go through a car wash. 

The protests in Raleigh got pretty crazy last Saturday but have been peaceful since then. Every day there have been continuous, largely informal (at least I didn't see any facebook events) protests starting in late afternoon. I went downtown on Thursday and there was a group of several hundred people amassed at the capital building park. Several people gave speeches, red poetry, lead chants, etc. While the crowd weren't holding back in venting their anger and frustration, the overall vibe was really positive. Lots of people handing out free water (it was near 100 with the heat index), a majority were wearing masks, people were picking up after themselves (I'd brought a trash bag and collected hardly any litter), lots of the cars driving through downtown honked in support, etc. We marched a couple blocks to the municipal building and the speeches picked up again and I headed home shortly after that. There was a separate good sized crowd gathered on another part of town so it looks to have some traction for the time being. 

Some pics of the gathering, as well as murals people were painting on buildings and boarded up storefronts.

Spoiler

700ebce61f4d86f3b19e7b16bfc097f40e0debd4

2168909db53a78af6bbc8eef04171182cf7dc48e

18cf832b1ab174665e39d1915fb6aa0fcf803ec9

73f5a0e2631905713e91c18f787d82c0ba9658b6

50b3d69663f800e90383bde1bcb49b08d758f72a

e7c31ba364fd4e95e8473866a73070c18d09cac8

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Woke up to a frantic phone call at midnight from my wife. She’d been over at a friends house with the kids and when she arrived home there were police officers standing in front of the house yelling at her to stay back and seek shelter. A neighbor let them in to her house. The officers were essentially using my car as a shield. One of them finally knocked on the door and told me it was an active firearm situation across the street. It turned out to be a domestic call and no one was hurt once the cops got into the house (although the husband went to jail in his boxers.)

It was pretty harrowing since I was separated from my family, but they were still close enough to potentially be in harms way. We just moved here six months ago because there was a drive by shooting across the street from our old house in broad daylight while we were home. 

Anyway, time to try to get back to sleep for work in a couple of hours. 

  • Sad 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is your friendly reminder to blur faces and wipe photos of their meta data if you're going to post pictures of protests you've taken. You can't be too careful in these times.

The photos @HumanChessgame has posted are good examples of photography at a protest, using angles that don't capture the facial features of those attending.

The CBC link that @elizium posted is an example of how NOT to do it (though that's not your fault - please don't think I'm referring to you personally!) - multiple photos of protests, both unmasked and masked.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Eivion said:

Wow, sorry to hear something scary like that happened to you and your family. Glad you are safe.

Thanks. Turned out the piece of shit got drunk and punched his wife, and when she tried to take the kids and leave he brought out his semi-automatic rifle. It could have ended tragically. Just happy her and the kids got out of the situation, and hopefully he’s out of the house for good and his guns are confiscated.

Meanwhile, less than a block away a drunk driver was startled by the police presence and drove his car into a Beamer parked on the street, wrecking both cars, so there were over a dozen emergency vehicles plus a tow truck on our street until about 4 am. 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Casey said:

This is your friendly reminder to blur faces and wipe photos of their meta data if you're going to post pictures of protests you've taken. You can't be too careful in these times.

The photos @HumanChessgame has posted are good examples of photography at a protest, using angles that don't capture the facial features of those attending.

The CBC link that @elizium posted is an example of how NOT to do it (though that's not your fault - please don't think I'm referring to you personally!) - multiple photos of protests, both unmasked and masked.

This is a dumb question, but why? Fear of retaliation from your workplace?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Craig H said:

This is a dumb question, but why? Fear of retaliation from your workplace?

Fear of retaliation from the police.

E: Basically the police using facial recognition technology and other identifying characteristics to find people later.

Edited by elizium
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes, they're more interested in 20 minute segments on how cops taking a knee and marching with protesters will change things, or how cities renaming a street or painting some words on a road will make a difference.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Casey said:

Yes, they're more interested in 20 minute segments on how cops taking a knee and marching with protesters will change things, or how cities renaming a street or painting some words on a road will make a difference.

This is what's bugging the shit out of me.  Instead of taking a knee or hugging protestors, how about going back to the precinct and trying to change things? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, elizium said:

Fear of retaliation from the police.

E: Basically the police using facial recognition technology and other identifying characteristics to find people later.

Considering how many people who protested in Ferguson have "committed suicide", yeah. Mask up, cover up, and blur everything you can.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mods, please feel free to delete this if it's too much but ex-MMA journalist and now historian, Patrick Wyman, wrote a piece on the police and what they represent that reminds me of a modern update to Michel Foucault's Discipline & Punish. It connects with an awful lot of what is being said. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Technico Support said:

This is what's bugging the shit out of me.  Instead of taking a knee or hugging protestors, how about going back to the precinct and trying to change things? 

We’ve seen in multiple place that they’ll take knees and hug protestors for photo ops, and then gas and shoot the same crowds an hour or two later. Changing things was never even an actual consideration. 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, (BP) said:

We’ve seen in multiple place that they’ll take knees and hug protestors for photo ops, and then gas and shoot the same crowds an hour or two later. Changing things was never even an actual consideration. 

I didn't want to believe this to be true when my wife was telling me about this.  You would think that if they're going to take knees and hug protesters then that should indicate that they're not going to pull this shit later on.  It's sad and has since made me question if these moments they show are real.  It's almost like they need to have those doing it give a speech showing they really mean it.  And to be fair some have shown that they do care but I just wish that was true for everybody doing this. 

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luckily the deer wasn't that big but damn he was running full speed I had no time to react. Also happy that he seemed to survive it. Anyway, car is in the bodyshop now.  I guess my comprehensive insurance had a $1000 deductible but I do have rental coverage so it's not so bad.  Should have it back soon.  

There's so many deer around here it's crazy.  They walk around in our yards like they own the place. I guess in many ways they do. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Participated in a BLM protest organized by the local public defender's office.  It's really hard to kneel for eight minutes and forty-six seconds.  Like, really hard.  My leg was shaking.  The degree of difficulty in his assault just pisses me off more.  Fuck the police. 

  • Like 4
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been, like everyone else, so bugged out by the past few weeks. I knew police brutality existed before. And I know that minority communities were victimized more than anyone else. But knowing those facts and then understanding those facts is so incredibly different, which is what everyone is doing right now. It's just absolutely gross. 

My son is adopted. Nothing is known about his birth father besides him being Latino. Latinos also face disproportionate amounts of discrimination from law enforcement. You may have also heard that the Trump Administration is not too kind to Latinos. This has hit me so hard because this is the first time this has truly hit home for me. 

Philly has this neighborhood called Fishtown. Over the past 15 years, it has become Williamsburg 2.0 and the hipster capital of the city. Previous to that, it was a really tough white neighborhood. There are still plenty of "Old Fishtown" residents and there have been some tensions over the years, but nothing too serious. 

But it got nuts last week during the height of our rioting. A bunch of "Old Fishtown" guys got together with bats and things like that to "protect" the neighborhood from "rioters." That roughly translates to "physically intimidate protesters." Of course, the Philly PD was fine letting these nitwits strut around holding weapons and threatening people while just a few miles downtown they were busy lobbing tear gas cans at protesters who walked onto the crosstown highway and were more-or-less trapped in a canyon. 

I have a friend who works for the local NPR affiliate. He went over to Fishtown to report on what was happening. The Old Fishtown guys caught him recording and jumped him. Thankfully, it wasn't anything major. His eye got swelled up and I think he has a broken nose. His girlfriend jumped on top of him and made all kinds of noise which kept these goons from really doing some damage. But no concussion and he was out of the hospital after one night. 

There's also a big local scandal based around a cop here named, no joke, Joe Bologna. Joe got filmed cracking a baton across some college kid's head and then filmed the next day violently dragging a woman to the ground who walked past him in the middle of a completely peaceful protest. Bologna's a high ranking official. This comes even though he was the direct supervisor of a police unit that made up information on warrants and stole from neighborhood bodegas (as seen on tape) and sexually assaulted women. The Philly Inquirer won a Pulitzer writing about this unit. It will not shock you to know that the cops in the unit were all found innocent of any charges and were allowed to keep their jobs and pensions. After that, Bologna ended up running the precinct that earned the most citizen complaints. The local DA just charged him with assault but the local police union is out in support of him and is selling "Bologna Strong" shirts as a fundraiser.

Philly has turned out in huge numbers though in protests. I haven't gone to any yet since I can get crowd phobic at times and I get dehydrated real easy. I feel really bad about not going since this is a fight that's long overdue. But I also have to protect my health. I've got a little guy to care about now and I don't really want to have to deal with wiping out pepper spray or getting shoved by some cop's riot shield. 

The rioting in Philly looked a lot worse than what happened. The riots lasted for two days. The main shopping district downtown got looted pretty badly. Shopping corridors in a few other neighborhoods did, too. The Target about 1/2 mile from our house was looted. But there weren't more than a handful of fires. It was mostly a lot of broken glass and kids grabbing what they could get before running away. It sucks for small business owners obviously but I'm not weeping tears for Target or Verizon. 

This has been an absolutely crazy year and a few weeks. I'm so grateful for all I have, and realizing that makes me want to do what I can to make lasting change for people who face a rigged system.

  • Like 7
  • Thanks 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...