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[EnigmaticHat]

The US system is bad but a lot of police systems worldwide are bad, the US one is just bad in different ways.  In terms of generic corruption, our police force is relative trustworthy AFAIK.  The main issues are the militarization and the racism.

I don't think we really need to imitate other countries so much as we need to lose the whole "support the police" attitude.  Every time one of these murders happens, people come out of the woodwork supporting the cops and expressing support for cops in general, as if to imply that a criticism against that one cop is a criticism against all cops.  Its not just random citizens, its journalists, politicians, apparently legal professionals and whoever the fuck is on grand juries...

In most fields, its understood that there are standards and that people and organizations that don't meet those standards need to change or be forced out of the industry.  Do doctors try to stop other doctors from having their medical license revoked?  Do researches try to defend quacks who release shitty studies like the vaccines cause autism thing?  Do lawyers try to stop other lawyers from being disbarred?  As a whole, no.  Just because that one person is punished for doing a bad job is none of their business, and I'm willing to bet that many professionals who take pride in their work hate the incompetents and conmen in their industry more than the average person.

But policing, one of tiny handful of jobs where you're allowed to fire lethal weapons at people, we can't have professional standards for that.  Cops need to look out for each other, and if a cop does fuck up and kill someone then its the responsibility of the cops to decide how they should be punished.  Its like a gang, they're protecting each other against everyone else.  They don't think of themselves as just doing a job.  Which on its own is a problem, but it becomes an almost insolvable one as long as everyone, especially people in power, supports them in acting this way.

[nenjin]

It is on cops to change cops. They have shown time and again that public opinion doesn't matter to them, and nothing short of a federal investigation can actually force change. We're not even really empowered to do anything about it as citizens. Some places police officials are appointed by the state, others are elected. Some have community advisory boards with zero actual power vested in them. But it's really the mentality that has got to change, the culture of what it means to be a cop these days, what other cops say is acceptable behavior for a cop and the lengths they're willing to go to protect each other over it.

So when I see police doing a show of unity right on the heels of the what's been happening, apeing slogans that were used against them, it doesn't make me think "they", as in all cops, really fucking care what we think. They care about themselves and what other cops think of them. I feel for the rational officers out there caught in the middle of this, but I'm swiftly coming to the opinion that if you don't outright oppose this shit, you're part of the problem too. Because, again, it's about what cops say it's ok for other cops to do, what's acceptable in the line of duty. Firing your fucking weapon in panic and fear isn't one of them, choking people until they have heart attacks, and worse, aren't among them. If the culture of being a cop today is "make sure your ass comes home alive before a civilian's", that shit has to change.

[EnigmaticHat]

My point was more that EVERYONE, journalists, cops, politicians, citizens, legal professionals, they all seem to be supporting the cops in this one.  I agree with you that it isn't particularly likely that outside forces will change the cops.  But it seems far LESS likely that inside forces will change them.

[KingofstarrySkies]

Maybe we should put the US on a 99-year lease to England, like China did with Hong Kong.

Gods, not england. England's been privatizing, setting itself up to go down the exact path the US has. Maybe some other nation, but not the UK.

Canada!

[TD1]

Yes.

We entrust the United States of America into the care of our Brethren across the seas.

Long may this union last.

Long may they prosper.

[SalmonGod]

If the culture of being a cop today is "make sure your ass comes home alive before a civilian's", that shit has to change.

This seems to be the universal problem, but there are widespread ones that are worse.  Simply wanting to maintain the ability to put their own safety ahead of the public's doesn't explain why they would continue to stick up for each other in cases of blatant abuse that have nothing to do with their own safety or ability to do their jobs.

Example: Sexual assault is the second most common complaint filed against on-duty officers, and it's hard for me to imagine how they could get away with doing something like that on duty without cooperation.  Not to mention cases where departments have held people captive as sex slaves.  When these stories go public and then (maybe) to court, the same blue-line behavior seems to effect the justice process.

[BlackFlyme]

Almost three hours of shopping. All we went out for was for me to get a newer phone.

But they gave us gift-cards for upgrading. My mom then said that we would not leave until we completely spent the cards. Literally spending money for the sake of wasting it. She bought things that she doesn't even like, just because she wanted to spend all of the money.

I hate shopping with her. Every outing becomes an ordeal.

[Tawa]

Well, parents threatening punishment while inebriated is rage-inducing and kinda funny at the same time.

On one hand, they seem to think that every fucking thing I do on the computer is playing video games. Never mind the fact that some 85% of what I do is reading everything from Wikipedia articles to old Lovecraft stories and socializing with friends, it's just games, games, games all the way down to them. Doesn't matter that my sister does the exact same thing but on an ipod and interspersed with drawing pictures every now and then, because, and I quote, "[THEY] SEE WHAT HAPPENS." If they "saw what happened", they'd know damned well I do things other than gaming.

I hate how they seem to think that computer usage is arbitrarily bad. Never mind that my alternatives to the internet and gaming are watching TV and rereading the same damned books over and over, they're just afraid of post-80s technology for no apparent reason.

[UXLZ]

It's because whenever they try to use a computer it provokes from them a reaction quite similar to your avatar. You should know the one I'm talking about. It's pretty obvious.

Deep-ingrained phobias can be quite hard to deal with.

[Tawa]

The happy mask salesman?

So you're saying that me using the computer is comparable to failing to recover an artifact of doom?

[UXLZ]

No, I'm saying them attempting to use a computer causes head clutching rage and confusion, since they have no clue. xD

That interpretation is valid, too, though.

[Tawa]

Actually, my father was a bit of a computer geek back in the 80s. My mom has no idea how the thing even works, though.

I think they just need to accept that I have chosen this as a hobby. I like playing games, I like using the internet. It's my thing.

Of course, a few minutes later, my mom also lectured my sister about how she's not taking care of her new guinea pig (who is still in that stage where he's hiding in a box and coping with the stress of a new environment) and also needs to clean her room despite the fact she did that just yesterday, so I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's the booze talking.

[BlackFlyme]

Oh boy. My mom seems to think that my new phone is hers. Or at least, she's acting like it.

She's choosing my ringtone/text indicator and choosing my phone settings. Why?

[itisnotlogical]

So fed up with Blender not working the way I expect when I try to do anything even slightly complex. I painted some textures in the built-in image editor; after modelling a few other things, suddenly my textures are blank images again with no indication of what caused this to happen. I don't really know how to use Autodesk products, but it looks like it's time for me to finally learn.

[Arx]

Welcome to Blender.

I have some idea of how to use it, after hours on end trying to make it serve me.