OT - Current Affairs/COVID/Vaccines, etc

[cberry78]

Good Story. Did you also know Phoenix PD killed 5 unarmed white, 5 unarmed black, 8 unarmed Hispanic, and 1 unarmed asian since 2013. People need to be consistent and realize it happens to every race, but they push an agenda based on the media.

Question to you guys:

Police were called to the house via 911 by a lady who stated the guy wasn't supposed to be there, was getting car, kids, etc. They clarified he had a warrant and was a sex offender.

He wrested and fought cops, got tased and it didn't work, aggressively walked to door, and got in and reached for something, and had a knife.

I do blame both sides, and not sure why people cant see that. Cops should never have let him get to truck, but they tried. And he should never have opened the door and reach down. That is the riskiest thing you can do after fighting cops

Yeah I think a good starting point for our country would be take a deep look at why our cops shoot so many more people than other developed countries. What are we doing differently? Hiring practices, training, rules of engagement are all areas that should be looked at.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

It's all of those things, and the federal govt to boot (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Enforcement_Support_Office). An officer can be suspended and fired from one precinct and then rehired somewhere else (https://www.abc15.com/news/local-news/investigations/inside-an-arizona-police-department-filled-with-brady-list-cops). We've already covered the fact that police in AZ only need about 600 hours (approx 3 months of training) to be put on the street, a barber needs 1300, and other countries require 1-4 YEARS before they're put on the beat. So-called continuing education is a joke, most states "require" it (8 hours, 20 hours, etc), but every state has a waiver form for exemption.

[suns12345]

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Is it out of line from Bron to feel like people need to seek permission to take certain actions.

I'm unsure, keen to know what people think.

Feels like the bucks should be free to do as they wish, particularly given the recent shooting was in their home state.

[lilfishi22]

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Is it out of line from Bron to feel like people need to seek permission to take certain actions.

I'm unsure, keen to know what people think.

Feels like the bucks should be free to do as they wish, particularly given the recent shooting was in their home state.

I'm not sure if out of line is the description but perhaps he wanted a unified player voice/action because it would have a stronger impact rather than one group go their own way

A movement is always stronger when everyone moves in the same direction

[MrMiyagi]

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?s=21

Is it out of line from Bron to feel like people need to seek permission to take certain actions.

I'm unsure, keen to know what people think.

Feels like the bucks should be free to do as they wish, particularly given the recent shooting was in their home state.

Read on Twitter

Seems like LeBron wants to end the season. Like Chuck said, there are some guys in better financial positions than others. LeBron doesn't really need these playoffs as much as people like to speculate he's chasing Jordan so he needs more rings or whatever. I think he's already made up his mind, there are more important things to him than basketball (as much as his critics like to say he's selfish).

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he retires and changes his focus entirely.

[cberry78]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Is it out of line from Bron to feel like people need to seek permission to take certain actions.

I'm unsure, keen to know what people think.

Feels like the bucks should be free to do as they wish, particularly given the recent shooting was in their home state.

Read on Twitter

Seems like LeBron wants to end the season. Like Chuck said, there are some guys in better financial positions than others. LeBron doesn't really need these playoffs as much as people like to speculate he's chasing Jordan so he needs more rings or whatever. I think he's already made up his mind, there are more important things to him than basketball (as much as his critics like to say he's selfish).

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he retires and changes his focus entirely.

LBJ is only 4,000 points away from being the all time scoring leader, he'll stick around for another year or 3 to get that.

Points Leaders
RK PLAYER PTS
1 Kareem 38,387
2 Malone 36,928
3 LeBRON 34,241

[MrMiyagi]

Is it out of line from Bron to feel like people need to seek permission to take certain actions.

I'm unsure, keen to know what people think.

Feels like the bucks should be free to do as they wish, particularly given the recent shooting was in their home state.

Read on Twitter

Seems like LeBron wants to end the season. Like Chuck said, there are some guys in better financial positions than others. LeBron doesn't really need these playoffs as much as people like to speculate he's chasing Jordan so he needs more rings or whatever. I think he's already made up his mind, there are more important things to him than basketball (as much as his critics like to say he's selfish).

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he retires and changes his focus entirely.

LBJ is only 4,000 points away from being the all time scoring leader, he'll stick around for another year or 3 to get that.

Points Leaders
RK PLAYER PTS
1 Kareem 38,387
2 Malone 36,928
3 LeBRON 34,241

It's probably unlikely he retires, I just wouldn't be surprised. He could always come back like Jordan did (twice).

[Revived]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Is it out of line from Bron to feel like people need to seek permission to take certain actions.

I'm unsure, keen to know what people think.

Feels like the bucks should be free to do as they wish, particularly given the recent shooting was in their home state.

Read on Twitter

Seems like LeBron wants to end the season. Like Chuck said, there are some guys in better financial positions than others. LeBron doesn't really need these playoffs as much as people like to speculate he's chasing Jordan so he needs more rings or whatever. I think he's already made up his mind, there are more important things to him than basketball (as much as his critics like to say he's selfish).

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he retires and changes his focus entirely.

You could read it another way. Perhaps the rest of the Lakers players felt that they should stop playing basketball and LeBron disagreed and was frustrated with their choice so he “got angry and stormed out”.

Not saying that’s what happened but just saying it’s a possibility. I find it hard to believe he wouldn’t want to play after he was the driving force among players to restart the league back when guys like Kyrie and Dwight were against it.

[bwgood77]

Watch this and you may better understand the issues. It will take about an hour and 45 minutes of your time but would be well worth it. Consider it a good replacement for the games you might have watched that have been postponed.

Watch on YouTube

I understand the issues of the past and present. My question is what reform? What are they going to boycott? What is the end goal? What do they want out of the boycott? Cannot just boycott 1 day and expect change.

Also - I am saying why do they not care about that 3 year old African American boy who was killed in south Chicago? Why are they only against White Police Officer ?

I think you are making a big assumption that they don't care. I think lots of people care that a 3-year old was killed. That is why you hear calls for gun legislation, as a Republican I support mental background checks and closing loopholes for selling firearms at gun shows. Stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and not making changes that protect the majority of U.S. Citizens all in the name of "a well-regulated militia".

Second, I don't believe they are against the "White Police Officer". I believe they are against the systemic treatment of Blacks, historically, by law enforcement. If you truly have watched this video I linked then you should be horrified that the U.S. still has "legal" slavery in our country. Yes ... legalized slavery exists and is being run by corporations in the U.S and stockholders are making money off of it. It certainly impacts Blacks and Hispanics at a much higher rate than whites.

Finally, it's fairly obvious they can't make reform happen in one day. What they can do is push people to register and vote for politicians who are willing to address the problem of racial justice/inequality. Personally I'm tired of the ultra-liberal left and the ultra-conservative right running our media and our country. My hope is the middle majority of moderate Repubs, Dems, and Independents start putting their foot on the throat of these crazy azzholes. It's time people started voting for moderate candidates instead of towing the crazy-azz party line.

Great post...I have always been an independent because I don't want a party to tell me how to think....but I do lean pretty left at this point and used to lean right years back. But yes....the far left push some of moderate left to middle, but then the far right has gotten crazy as well and pushed it the other way for reasonable republicans like yourself. It's like a battle of who is more extreme. Now of course anything regarding race and what Blacks have had to endure and still do, and people who argue in some respect of maintaining that in one way or another is awful. And with Trump, it's just gotten so bad. But that movie and several good books lay it out well why we are where we are today...it has just been amplified in many ways now.

[bwgood77]

Ya'll want no police? If I were the police I would stop going on calls.

Without police the crime rate will sky rocket. Just wait

That's a big jump you made by saying people don't want police. People want reform. For example, in my city, 43% of the general fund goes toward the police department. That is a very large percentage dedicated to this public service. Very few dollars go to address the issues of homelessness, mental health, job education programs, etc that would go towards helping reduce crime. Obviously nobody wants crime. But the system we have now has major problems that need to be reformed. So politicians need to be willing to take a hard look at it instead of just stumping for a vote by saying "I'm tough on crime".

Yeah ! Less money, less training = more crime, more deaths

If I am a Police Officer I would ignore calls now! The way they are treated is beyond belief. Reform! Let's sent a counselor into a domestic violence call! Yeah, that is a smart call.

Look at the cities defunding police. All democratic ran cities with the most police brutality cases

Hate to say it, but everyone wants BIDEN. This is giving Trump the edge with all the BS going on.

The correct action is allocation of funds to help stuff like homelessness, mental health, etc, but also funding police in a way that they require educated people in these areas. I think Bernie or someone said they should have a police degree in college where these are fundamental parts of education. Of course we can't completely defund police or what do you when rapes, a bunch of drunk drivers are out, or everyone driving 100 mph.....obviously there are many more examples too.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

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To me this is in some ways the right mindset, but mostly, kind of dumb. These are systemic issues, and not much will or can be done by the owners to force change. And I imagine many players who have a shot at a title don't want to shut it down. It won't do a lick of good in making a difference in what cops decide to do or what cities decide to do...they are not going to be making decisions on whether or not the NBA is going on.

[bwgood77]

Good Story. Did you also know Phoenix PD killed 5 unarmed white, 5 unarmed black, 8 unarmed Hispanic, and 1 unarmed asian since 2013. People need to be consistent and realize it happens to every race, but they push an agenda based on the media.

Question to you guys:

Police were called to the house via 911 by a lady who stated the guy wasn't supposed to be there, was getting car, kids, etc. They clarified he had a warrant and was a sex offender.

He wrested and fought cops, got tased and it didn't work, aggressively walked to door, and got in and reached for something, and had a knife.

I do blame both sides, and not sure why people cant see that. Cops should never have let him get to truck, but they tried. And he should never have opened the door and reach down. That is the riskiest thing you can do after fighting cops

Yeah I think a good starting point for our country would be take a deep look at why our cops shoot so many more people than other developed countries. What are we doing differently? Hiring practices, training, rules of engagement are all areas that should be looked at.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

I think that's a fairly easy answer. Guns are legal here. They know someone grabbing a gun is possible. And in many countries, cops don't even have guns, so shooting people would not be possible.

[cberry78]

That's a big jump you made by saying people don't want police. People want reform. For example, in my city, 43% of the general fund goes toward the police department. That is a very large percentage dedicated to this public service. Very few dollars go to address the issues of homelessness, mental health, job education programs, etc that would go towards helping reduce crime. Obviously nobody wants crime. But the system we have now has major problems that need to be reformed. So politicians need to be willing to take a hard look at it instead of just stumping for a vote by saying "I'm tough on crime".

Yeah ! Less money, less training = more crime, more deaths

If I am a Police Officer I would ignore calls now! The way they are treated is beyond belief. Reform! Let's sent a counselor into a domestic violence call! Yeah, that is a smart call.

Look at the cities defunding police. All democratic ran cities with the most police brutality cases

Hate to say it, but everyone wants BIDEN. This is giving Trump the edge with all the BS going on.

The correct action is allocation of funds to help stuff like homelessness, mental health, etc, but also funding police in a way that they require educated people in these areas. I think Bernie or someone said they should have a police degree in college where these are fundamental parts of education. Of course we can't completely defund police or what do you when rapes, a bunch of drunk drivers are out, or everyone driving 100 mph.....obviously there are many more examples too.

I just want to piggyback on this to add the following:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2019/02/13/marshall-project-more-cops-dont-mean-less-crime-experts-say/2818056002/

https://daily.jstor.org/do-police-deter-crime/

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Do%20Police%20Reduce%20Crime%20Di%20Tella%20Schargrodsky_d8e0367d-38fd-42c1-a95d-2ead15772e01.pdf (Summary - "Our results, in brief, suggest that a posted and visible police guard exerts a large, negative, local effect on auto theft and little or no effect outside a narrow area.")

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

?s=21

Is it out of line from Bron to feel like people need to seek permission to take certain actions.

I'm unsure, keen to know what people think.

Feels like the bucks should be free to do as they wish, particularly given the recent shooting was in their home state.

Read on Twitter

Seems like LeBron wants to end the season. Like Chuck said, there are some guys in better financial positions than others. LeBron doesn't really need these playoffs as much as people like to speculate he's chasing Jordan so he needs more rings or whatever. I think he's already made up his mind, there are more important things to him than basketball (as much as his critics like to say he's selfish).

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he retires and changes his focus entirely.

I am very surprised that LeBron or many of the Clippers or Lakers would want to do that. It is not anything that will come close to solving anything.

Though the draft might be sooner, which would be good for us.

[suns12345]

Is it out of line from Bron to feel like people need to seek permission to take certain actions.

I'm unsure, keen to know what people think.

Feels like the bucks should be free to do as they wish, particularly given the recent shooting was in their home state.

Read on Twitter

Seems like LeBron wants to end the season. Like Chuck said, there are some guys in better financial positions than others. LeBron doesn't really need these playoffs as much as people like to speculate he's chasing Jordan so he needs more rings or whatever. I think he's already made up his mind, there are more important things to him than basketball (as much as his critics like to say he's selfish).

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he retires and changes his focus entirely.

I am very surprised that LeBron or many of the Clippers or Lakers would want to do that. It is not anything that will come close to solving anything.

Though the draft might be sooner, which would be good for us.

Chuck's point is interesting, and a massive challenge in this situation, or any situation like this, where it is easier for some people to take a stand then others even if everyone wants to.

Chuck has suprised me with his sage comments lately. I never like that TNT panel because it is normally just old guys yelling at each other but chuck really has had some good insights of late.

[bwgood77]

Read on Twitter

Seems like LeBron wants to end the season. Like Chuck said, there are some guys in better financial positions than others. LeBron doesn't really need these playoffs as much as people like to speculate he's chasing Jordan so he needs more rings or whatever. I think he's already made up his mind, there are more important things to him than basketball (as much as his critics like to say he's selfish).

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he retires and changes his focus entirely.

I am very surprised that LeBron or many of the Clippers or Lakers would want to do that. It is not anything that will come close to solving anything.

Though the draft might be sooner, which would be good for us.

Chuck's point is interesting, and a massive challenge in this situation, or any situation like this, where it is easier for some people to take a stand then others even if everyone wants to.

Chuck has suprised me with his sage comments lately. I never like that TNT panel because it is normally just old guys yelling at each other but chuck really has had some good insights of late.

I didn't hear what Chuck said...what did he say...or some of his sage comments? I just posted my thoughts about this on the General Board. I even unstickied the playoff threads....I think the players are going about this the wrong way if they are thinking of canceling...it basically cancels their voice.

[suns12345]

I am very surprised that LeBron or many of the Clippers or Lakers would want to do that. It is not anything that will come close to solving anything.

Though the draft might be sooner, which would be good for us.

Chuck's point is interesting, and a massive challenge in this situation, or any situation like this, where it is easier for some people to take a stand then others even if everyone wants to.

Chuck has suprised me with his sage comments lately. I never like that TNT panel because it is normally just old guys yelling at each other but chuck really has had some good insights of late.

I didn't hear what Chuck said...what did he say...or some of his sage comments? I just posted my thoughts about this on the General Board. I even unstickied the playoff threads....I think the players are going about this the wrong way if they are thinking of canceling...it basically cancels their voice.

Just like MrMiyagi said, some players are in different financial positions and the better established stars have to be cognisant of that when deciding on the unified direction for the players.

Had some common sense takes on the Luka x Harrell incident and the double standards there and how any racial abuse needs to be called out (although he got yelled down by kenny and shaq haha)

[DroughtsOverPHX]

The preaching to the choir aspect of this bugs me. Being NBA fans we chose to closely follow a sport dominated by black men and most of us follow those players without a thought of color. I get that black lives matter even without them throwing it in my face constantly during the bubble experience. I don't know what I am supposed to do differently other than nod my head, vote for Biden and call out anyone who says blue lives or any other lives matter and never under any circumstances point out anything negative about the people who have been shot.

I guess maybe I'm not the fan I thought I was. They can cancel the season. I'm sick of the politics, hypocrisy and virtue signaling bs. They won't take on any empowering women messages any time soon or at least until the train is done.

[Wilber85]

Good Story. Did you also know Phoenix PD killed 5 unarmed white, 5 unarmed black, 8 unarmed Hispanic, and 1 unarmed asian since 2013. People need to be consistent and realize it happens to every race, but they push an agenda based on the media.

Question to you guys:

Police were called to the house via 911 by a lady who stated the guy wasn't supposed to be there, was getting car, kids, etc. They clarified he had a warrant and was a sex offender.

He wrested and fought cops, got tased and it didn't work, aggressively walked to door, and got in and reached for something, and had a knife.

I do blame both sides, and not sure why people cant see that. Cops should never have let him get to truck, but they tried. And he should never have opened the door and reach down. That is the riskiest thing you can do after fighting cops

I'm not saying you're necessarily pushing this All Lives Matter narrative (maybe you are, I dunno) but I really don't understand this and the All Lives Matter mindset. Isn't what BLM fighting for something where EVERYONE benefits? Don't we all want better policing, eliminating racial injustice and justice for wrongful killings at the hands of police?

Who is speaking up for that?

My argument is if you want change do it together, raise the issue together. Do not push one race agenda, we need each other.

[Wilber85]

I am still confused about what these NBA players would have liked to see in this Jacob Blake issue.

Can you guys answer what you would have done?

5:11 dispatch gets a call about a domestic issue saying Blake shouldn't be there, and took the complainants keys and is refusing to give them back. Then dispatch tells the officers there is a warrant for this guy stemming from May and to be aware of that.

Once cops arrive they get into a scuffle with Blake, and they fight on the ground, one office tases him and it does not work. Blake then aggressively walks to car and reached down into the floorboard. Get's shot 7 times. (I believe 7 times is the issue I have which is way too many for that situation)

Here is where I stand:

Blake shouldn't have been shot 7 times.
I blame the cops for allowing him to go to his front door and reach down (Never should have got that far)
I blame Blake for going to his front door and reaching down, what did he expect?

It is a bad situation but Why did it escalate? Why didn't they just take him in, why didn't he just listen to them?

[MrMiyagi]

The preaching to the choir aspect of this bugs me. Being NBA fans we chose to closely follow a sport dominated by black men and most of us follow those players without a thought of color. I get that black lives matter even without them throwing it in my face constantly during the bubble experience. I don't know what I am supposed to do differently other than nod my head, vote for Biden and call out anyone who says blue lives or any other lives matter and never under any circumstances point out anything negative about the people who have been shot.

I guess maybe I'm not the fan I thought I was. They can cancel the season. I'm sick of the politics, hypocrisy and virtue signaling bs. They won't take on any empowering women messages any time soon or at least until the train is done.

I don't think that the message is for the casual NBA fan. There's a reason the players want the owners to do more. Nothing in this country happens unless the truly rich (not millionaires, but billionaires) decide something needs to be done. These guys have leverage over some of the wealthiest people in America (and the world) by hitting them in their pocket books. If they can get them to lobby for police reform across the country, they've got a shot to make real change.