Comments by "Harry Stoddard" (@HarryS77) on "Sam Seder Reacts To Shocking Footage Of Cops Injuring Elderly Man" video.

Cuomo's been governing like a republican all during this crisis. Wanted to cut spending to healthcare during covid; talked about the need to balance human life with the economy. Lately he's been critical of people like De Blasio for not being tougher on protestors. Guy is a straight up thug in a suit.
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This is about more than the personalities of police officers. The purpose of the police as an institution is to mediate and manage inequality created by a fundamentally racist capitalist system. They exist to enforce laws overwhelmingly against the poor, who are largely black and brown, and to safeguard property. You could replace the entire force with dorky "nice guys," and the end result would be similar. You could racially diversify the force; studies show black and brown officers use as much if not more force than their white counterparts. If you want to change the behavior of the police, you can't just change the personnel. You have to change the purpose and the mission. The purpose of the police is at its core racist and classist, and so it is no surprise that police themselves reproduce those sentiments in their enforcement.
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Yep. 1033 Program has delivered over 5 billion in military equipment to police departments since 1997, no questions asked. Police also use civil asset forfeitures (which should be a violation of the 4th amendment) to fund their activities. They also ramp up ticketing to increase city funds. We need to defund the police, and that means not just taking away tax dollars; it also means cutting off other, more insidious revenue streams, and then diverting those monies to policies and organizations that will build strong, independent, democratic communities.
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No such thing as a police union. If you're affiliated with the AFL-CIO, urge them to break ties with all police "unions."
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Dancing Diva Police aren't workers. Oppressing workers, the poor, and minority communities isn't a job. There is no solidarity with police.
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@bengallup9321 I'm glad more people are starting to see this.
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@user-bc6ok1yh4s civil servants? How can you witness what's been going on with the police and call them civil servants? Who do they serve? Political leaders, prisons, capital. They don't, and most importantly can't, serve communities. They are at their core enemies of minorities, the poor, and the working class.
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@VMonkies True, but he hasn't always had every Democrat in the country fawning over him and begging for him to be president.
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@TheBighatter First, teachers actually provide a structural social good. Second, the notion of "bad teachers" protected by unions is right wing anti-union propaganda. Does it happen sometimes? Sure. But it's not a systemic problem. Third, the problem with the police, and therefore with police associations, is not a few bad apples. It is with the police as an institution of class and racial oppression. Police associations don't just protect "bad apples"; they also protect the so-called "good apples" who also uphold a racist, classist, ableist, and altogether unjust social order. That is their function: to manage inequalities produced by our political economy. Whatever your opinion of the public education system or unions (and there are valid critiques) teachers' unions and police associations aren't comparable in the way they protect their members. A teacher's union, for instance, wouldn't condone murder, planting evidence, rape, and all the other nefarious activities police unions support. Teacher's unions also frequently advocate for beneficial reforms, like de-emphasizing testing, decreasing class sizes, and school funding. Police associations routinely fight against even the most modest reforms.
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Dancing Diva bootlicker
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@meansend2657 Michael especially made a big deal about being ahead of the curve on distrusting Warren and criticized as naive anyone who thought she was a progressive or ally. But he's been incredibly naive (if that's the word) about Krystal, has platformed Saagar as a thoughtful conservative, routinely promotes Ana Kasparian, and said nothing about Cenk's problems with unionizing workers. No one's perfect, cancel culture sicks, yadda yadda, but yeah, he should know better.
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