Filosofa Grumbles

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, cartoons, Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

Okay, I gave you cute critters to bring smiles to your faces this morning, but now it is afternoon, and I am back in my snarky, grumpy, growly mode.

Miscarriage of justice

Former Minneapolis police officer Kimberly Potter was sentenced yesterday.  Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu sentenced Potter to a total of 24 months, 16 months to be spent in prison, and 8 months on ‘supervised release’.  Murder. Racism.  16 months in prison.  Oh, but wait … Ms. Potter is white, so she gets a slap on the wrist.  If she were Black and her victim had been white, what do you think the sentence would have been?

It started as a traffic stop last April.  20-year-old Duante Wright called his mother and told her he expected they had stopped him for the air fresheners he had dangling from his rear-view mirror, which is illegal in Minnesota.  But, when police checked his license, they discovered that he had an outstanding warrant or warrants, so they attempted to take him into custody.  Given the fact he was only 20 years old, I’m guessing those warrants weren’t serious enough to end his life over.  Mr. Wright jumped back into his vehicle and as he was attempting to drive off, Officer Kim Potter, a 25-year veteran of the Brooklyn Center Police Department, drew her gun and shot him through the window of his vehicle.  The vehicle travelled for a few blocks before coming to a stop after striking another vehicle, but Duante Wright was already dead.

Now, Ms. Potter tried to say that she thought she had taken her taser, not her pistol, from her belt and that was the entire basis for her defense – that it was an accident.  But consider this:  Potter had been on the Minneapolis police force for 25 years and surely knew the difference in the looks and feel of a taser vs a pistol!  I, who have never touched either a taser or a pistol could tell the difference at a glance!

The one on top is a Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol, the one on the bottom is a taser.  Tasers are most often in bright colours to avoid just such an ‘accident’ as Ms. Potter claimed to have made.  Pistols weigh significantly more than tasers.  AND … for her entire 25 years on the police force, Ms. Potter had followed the protocol that the pistol is worn on the dominant side, in this case her right side, and the taser on the opposite side.  After 25 years she suddenly ‘forgot’???  Give me a break … I wasn’t born yesterday!  But apparently Judge Chu was.

If Duante Wright had been white, in all likelihood he would still be alive today, but he committed the crime of being a Black male.  And if Ms. Potter had been Black, she would likely be spending the next 20 years in prison.  Still want to tell me there is no racism in our system of ‘justice’?

It’s still a damn pandemic!

Let’s make something clear right now … COVID IS STILL A PANDEMIC!  Yes, I trust Dr. Fauci, but if he honestly believes that it’s time to remove mandates and other precautions, he is dead wrong.  Take a look at just the past 10 days’ death toll in the U.S.

Does that look to you as if Covid is gone???  A few months ago, it was predicted that we would reach one million deaths by the end of April … I’m thinking it looks more like by the middle of March at the current rate!  Look at the numbers and realize that these numbers represent HUMANS!  They are mothers, fathers, grandparents, neighbors, co-workers … they are not just numbers!

Every state in the U.S. has either lifted or will soon lift restrictions such as mask and vaccine mandates.  WHY???  Because there is tremendous pressure from the fools who claim Covid is a hoax, or that their right to ‘personal freedom’ is more important than our lives!

Please, friends, despite the foolishness that apparently rules here in the U.S., continue to wear your mask, avoid crowds, and if you haven’t already, get the damn vaccines!  Be smart, be safe, care about your family, friends and co-workers.

98 thoughts on “Filosofa Grumbles”

  3. “Mr. Wright jumped back into his vehicle”

    That!
    There!
    I’m not a fan of the police buuuut why the phucque did he do that? He had outstanding warrants, he was supposed to face them. Not run away and duck his reponsibility. It’s called being an adult, or “carrying the weight”. As a fresh new father what kind of role model was he for his kid? When life threatens you with consequences for your stupid actions – run away? I mean that guy was a father. A 20 y/o father? Poor impulse control, no restraint, ill discipline. A shithead through and through. :/

    Liked by 2 people

        • No, he was 17 at the time of his death. Yes, he had a baby, and no, he shouldn’t have tried to flee, but neither of those things make him a candidate for being murdered. Do you honestly think that if he had been white he would have been killed?

          Liked by 1 person

      • “You’d have to live in the USA and grow up in the African American culture”
        … in order to become a shifty shithead 12 y/o in an adult body and act all suspicious, have a lot of outstanding warrants, severe enough that you prefer to run from the law at risk of being shot?

        What if he had stayed? Court, pay a lot of fines, being forced to act like a responsible, grown up person, face the consequences of his earlier wrongdoings, carry that weight?

        Mr. Wright’s completely nonsensical behaviour doesn’t compute with most people, sorry.

        As for Ms. Potter: She killed, alright. Needs a looooong prison sentence. And be removed from the police service and her fellow humans forever.

        Liked by 3 people

        • Or, to take a different view of your scenario, Orca, perhaps rather than a fine or court, he might have been thrown to the ground and a cop’s knee choking the life out of him as happened to George Floyd. Remember him? Duante Wright no doubt was thinking of that very situation when he decided to flee, for it was in the same city and not too long after Floyd’s brutal murder by police. What he did, again, did not warrant his murder.

          Liked by 1 person

          • “happened to George Floyd. Remember him?”

            Yes, everybody remembers that shithead. I hear other interpretations of that story. We’ll probably never know the real truth. Most don’t care, I don’t care, it’s just another American ¯_(ツ)_/¯ moment. Nobody cares.

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              • For all the wrong reasons maybe?
                I’ve heard accounts that he had a heart attack but still resisted help and totally freaked out. Let’s not forget he was hi as a kite at that time.
                Aaaand as long as a person can loudly proclaim they “can’t breath” they clearly can breathe, no?
                Whatever happened shouldn’t have happened and wouldn’t have happened in any other civilized country. Not sayin’, jus’ sayin’.

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                • No, not for all the wrong reasons. Because I care, because he was killed by a racist cop and far too many Black people have been killed in this country by racist cops. Where’s your compassion?

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        • Having worked in public service for 40+ years I have a fair deal of experience of folk acting irrationally…and having my own depression / anxiety problems have been on the other side too.
          Now I don’t know Mr. Wright as person, but his actions suggest someone hyped up, and if he had a lot of outstanding warrants was not very astute at getting his way out of jams, but was familiar with the police. So he panicked, he ran, not thinking things through, even though part of him would have been screaming stay put. Maybe there was someone he was afraid of meeting in jail, maybe he was in deep with the very wrong crew and scared that been taken into custody would mark him in some convoluted way as damaged goods. Maybe he was just ‘spooked’ by the sight of a police officer.
          I don’t know. I only know sometime we are all prone to take the stupid move. Most of the time it ends up as a ‘What was I thinking’.
          This time it didn’t.
          Why the cop shot him instead of just booking him in as a runner and to be taken in later I don’t know either.
          None of us are immune to flight or fight taking over, we just hope it happens in a potentially comical situation we can all laugh over afterwards.
          Sometimes that does not happen.

          Liked by 2 people

          • For one thing, I’m sure the brutal murder of George Floyd was on Mr. Wright’s mind, for he was in the same city and it had happened not long prior to Mr. Wright being pulled over. He certainly knew the cops would follow him, but likely thought that if he could get to a more crowded area he might be safer. Unfortunately, we’ll never know, for Ms. Potter took care of that.. Oh, and he did NOT have “multiple warrants” out against him — only one.

            Liked by 1 person

            • Ah I missed that, had it in mind it was ‘multiple’. Sorry. One would have been enough though.
              We can’t say for certain what was in his mind.
              We can all have a laugh, when it’s put into a comedy situation like in ‘The Heat’ when the Melissa McCarthy character tries to arrest an African American guy (Played by You Tube star…’Spoken Reasons’)……
              Not so funny in real life.

              Liked by 1 person

              • I think it was Orca what said he had ‘multiple’ warrants out against him, and also that he was 20, but the facts are that he was 17 and had a single warrant out, though I’m still not sure what for. Either way you cut it, he had done nothing to deserve ending his life. I’ll have to look for that link with Melissa McCarthy … I could use some humour, though as you say, when it happens in reality the humour is long gone.

                Liked by 2 people

                • I think I read it briefly somewhere else too, should have checked my facts.
                  The Heat is a fun film. A standard line of ill-matched cops buddying up. Sandra Bullock plays the wound-tight humourless type she plays so well, and Melissa is an ill-dressed, loud mouthed street wise cop from the wrong side of the tracks (her family are hilarious, there was mooted a film just involving them).
                  If you’ve seen Miss Congeniality 1 & 2 you know how it will work out- but heck; it’s fun

                  Liked by 1 person

    • Yes, as Fandango commented, it is akin to a person stopping a ten-day antibiotic regimen because the fever is gone. When the mask mandates first started, I hated it, swore I couldn’t wear one because of my asthma. But, as I usually do, I sat down and thought about it and realized I owe it to my family, to the rest of the nation, to do the right thing. Yes, it is very hard for me to breath with a mask, but I limit my trips out of the house and wear it because it’s the right thing to do. I think those who feel a little better now, who think the end is in sight, may be in for a big surprise. I hope I’m wrong, though.

      Liked by 1 person

      • “I owe it to my family, to the rest of the nation, to do the right thing. ”

        That mindset is why you’re still alive and don’t lay dead in the street, in a puddle of your own blood like Duante Wright.
        But allow me a slight correction: We’re talking pandemic here, not just epidemic. So you owe it far far above your nation, you owe it to humanity and the fuxn planet! We all do!

        Liked by 2 people

    • Exactly! The fuxn mask has killed nobody yet … and were I live you can’t enter any stores or anything without wearing it. I will take mine off the day the govt says Pandemic’s over and done with, not a second earlier. Should happen around March 15th, so not too long in the future.

      Liked by 3 people

        • March 15 would be just short of 2 years in lockdown. And our president is supposed to call an end on that date.

          But what do you know about BA.2 the rest of the world doesn’t know? According to all the data it may be even more contagious but also even more harmless than BA.1. And most countries are easing restrictions already, some have ended all measures completely.
          Now is South Africa maybe a bit better off than most other nations. I lieue of lacking medical supplies for most Coloureds and Blacks they turned out an astonishing robust people. Even at the height of Covid-19 most of them rather died in drive-by-shootings, taxi crashes and family violence.

          You got asthma? Carry your inhaler, keep on wearing the mask … avoid infection at all cost!
          Is what my hubby with his wonky immune system does. He refuses to board airplanes, didn’t even leave the house since 27th March of 2020. Not even once!

          Liked by 1 person

          • Yes, everything I’ve read about BA.2 is concerning and I think those who believe we are out of the woods are in for a big surprise. Covid is nowhere near done with us, I think. Yes, I leave the house only once a week to pick up my online grocery order where I don’t even need to leave my car. My daughter has been trying to lure me to the bookstore, my favourite place to go, but I just don’t feel comfortable, especially now that nobody seems to be wearing masks or observing social distancing. Like your hubby, I always carry my inhaler and if I wheeze too badly, I step outside for a breath of air. I haven’t flown on a plane since before 9/11, so not much danger of that. I’m amazed that anybody in their right mind would find it necessary to fly these days.

            Liked by 1 person

    • It seems today as if we’re going backward instead of forward. Racism … bigotry in all forms … is on the rise. More and more people are claiming that violence is the answer to our problems and I read yesterday where somebody said that “If we can’t win at the ballot box, we’ll win by killing people.” How can this continue like this? This is not a world I want to live in!

      Liked by 1 person

      • I’m not so sure about that. Gary, whose comment you’re responding to, is in the UK and tells me that things are as bad there as here in the U.S. I also have friends in Germany and France who say the same. And then there is Ukraine vs Russia … I have no idea where that will lead the world.

        Liked by 2 people

        • UK, Germany and France are just wannabe democracies. Their gvts are working on The Great Reseat and using scare tactics.The true numbers don’t mirror their panic.
          And then there is no Ukraine vs Russia. There is an internal conflict in the Ukraine. Nazi Govt vs Russia friendly breakaway republics. They get shelled now … and Russia – to everybody’s astonishment – does nothing. Ok, Putin offically acknowledged Donestsk and Luhansk as independent republics but mostly stays a 3rd party like all the rest of us (except the US).

          Liked by 1 person

          • Shit! I just read Putin is sending peacekeeping troops to the republics in order to protect the population. He is now where America wanted him. Now they can point their fingers at him and ring in another round of sanctions. But we all know where that ends, do we? Russia orients itself even more towards China and comes out stronger than before while the west will suffer.

            Alexander is heavily OCD, so better not look at him. 😮

            Liked by 2 people

  9. Pingback: Filosofa grumbles. |jilldennison.com | Ramblings of an Occupy Liberal

  10. Racism, is, a more serious, pandemic than, the outbreaks, and, just like, the outbreaks, you usually, don’t, detect it, until, someone, gets, killed by it…and sometimes, even as, someone, gets, killed by, racism, we still, only, have that 3- second attention span, soon as the news reports on it, we, forget, and so, it will, keep on, recurring.

    Liked by 2 people

    • You are so right, my friend. Today’s news is often forgotten by the end of the week, replaced with some other heinous thing that will also be forgotten soon. We seem to have very short attention spans, or much smaller brains these days that are unable to hold much data at one time.

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  11. I “think” we are supposed to be satisfied that Potter was found guilty. Isn’t that what everyone wanted! We are not supposed to notice the lacklustre sentence. Hopefully the Prosecutor’s Office will. If they don’t appeal, or, even if they do, I hope Duarte Wright’s family will sue Potter for wrongful death. Even if she gets out in a few months, she should be made to suffer for a long long time. While this goes TOTALLY against my own sense of justice, nothing is going to change if cops aren’t made to start seeing that they are supposed to protect the lives of everyone, not just people with white skins.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Well, the Wright family and other BLM activists have indeed noticed. I read that the judge passed a light sentence and asked the public to have “compassion” for Ms. Potter because she ‘cried’ in court. Bullshit! Crocodile tears! Duante Wright’s mother has cried far more tears than Ms. Potter has likely cried in her entire lifetime! I hope … I sincerely hope … that when she does get out, activists picket outside her home day and night, calling her a murderer and carrying signs with that on them.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. WHETHER OR NOT Officer Potter pulled out a gun instead of her taser … why were either of them necessary under the circumstances? Oh wait. Duante Wright was black, wasn’t he?

    Liked by 4 people

  16. Potter was convicted on 1st and 2nd degree manslaughter and received less than half the sentence that Mohamed Noor received for only 2nd degree manslaughter. Both were MN police officers convicted under the same laws.

    Noor was originally convicted of murder which was dismissed. I don’t agree with Potter’s sentence, and there is indeed big differences between the gun and taser. I carry both myself.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Yes, I read that the prosecution had asked for a 7+ year sentence, and the maximum would have been 20 years, so the two years, only part of it to be served in prison, is naught but a slap on the wrist. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Of course Noor’s sentence was more than twice Potter’s … his skin isn’t white. Bah Humbug.

      Haven’t seen you posting lately, Bro — are you alright?

      Liked by 1 person

      • Thanks for asking. Not really okay. Dealing with a ton of grief. Lost three colleagues since October, two who were very good friends. Just been trying to manage that and contemplating life itself.

        I’m working through it, but it just takes time when loss is sudden. Likely won’t make my goal of 28 posts for Feb through. 😁

        Also switched shifts in January and my body hasn’t gotten used to the change. I was working 10p – 8a for 2 yrs, and now I’m working 5a – 3p having to get up at 3am. I get home from work, and I have 3 or 4 hours before my body shuts down. I’ve got to go back to writing and scheduling posts like I did in the past.

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        • OH NO!!! I am so very sorry to hear that! Losing one friend is bad, but I cannot imagine losing three in such a short span of time. And yes, that certainly makes one stop and contemplate life, its fragility, its meaning. Take care and know that you’re in my heart and thoughts.

          No, I somehow don’t think you’re going to meet your goal of 28 posts in February, nor will I be meeting mine of half that many! Too much happening, too many distractions. Sigh. Indeed, it takes the body a while to adjust to a new schedule and the older we get, the harder it is. My daughter is a nurse and works 6:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., so she gets up at 5:00 every morning. I don’t know how she does it, for I’m usually just getting to bed at that time! Relax, my friend … Black History Month posts can happen in March, or even November!

          Liked by 1 person

          • Thanks. I intend on making people uncomfortable beyond February. It’s in my DNA. The entirety of the pandemic has been an exercise for me in self-introspection. Things that bothered me before seem so insignificant now. My focus now is on ensuring my kids and their generation are better than we are now.

            Thanks for all the love. It’s truly appreciated and reciprocal.

            Liked by 2 people

            • I hope that you and many others are successful in ensuring our kids and grandkids are better than we are now. Some will be, no doubt, but those who are being raised by heartless bigots will likely grow to be just like their own parents. I don’t know how we stop this madness except through education, and some 32+ states are adapting the rules in schools to make sure future generations never learn our true history. How do we overcome that? People like you, me, and others will teach our children the truth about the past, but others won’t. Sigh. Cheers ‘n hugs, my friend!

              Liked by 2 people

  17. Look, if Trump fans are eager to die, I’m not going to stand in their way. If you can’t fix stupid, let it fix itself. (Yes, I know that sounds uncharacteristically cruel. My frustration showing.)

    Liked by 4 people

    • I agree … if they’ve got no better sense, let the chips fall where they may. Trouble is, of course, that they put us all in danger, for even those of us who are fully vaccinated can catch Covid, and it is particularly risky for those like myself who are above a certain age and have other serious health problems. PLUS … the hospitals are having to put off treating some heart and cancer patients because they are so overwhelmed with Covid patients. But you are right … stupidity has its own consequences and whenever I hear of an unvaxxed person dying of Covid, the word “Karma” automatically comes to mind.

      Liked by 1 person

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