AverageJoesGym

I've seen articles by those smart people criticizing his instincts as well. While I think that he'll get better at it as he matures, his speed is certainly elite but his base stealing % is certainly not.

So how many more years before you start hating the Reds? They're almost at 25 years. What's the magic number?

Red Sox Nation is a real thing. I've watched them in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Atlanta and Tampa (in addition to Boston) and their fan base always made up a large part, if not the majority of the crowd. And this goes back to the mid-90's when they hadn't won 3/10 World Series. I saw them play at Fenway as far back as 1986, it was a hard ticket even back then.

You must really despise the Cubs...:lol2:

In only 35% of the cases used in the survey was any type of handgun found, and in the majority of those cases it was a handgun. The disturbing part is many of these raids are not done because of the possibility of the suspect being armed--it is done under the "potential to destroy evidence" clause.

Quotes like this one in the report are especially chilling: Not even Keene city officials believed that the city actually needed the BearCat to thwart terrorism. To explain why the police included the word “terrorism” on their application for federal funding for this purchase, a city councilmember said, “Our application talked about the danger of domestic terrorism, but that’s just something you put in the grant application to get the money. What red-blooded American cop isn’t going to be excited about getting a toy like this? That’s what it comes down to." This is a councilman talking about how the local police force was able to procure the money to purchase a BearCat--they cited potential terrorist concerns at their annual Pumpkin Festival--I'm not making this up.

Read the ACLU article. 79% of SWAT raids over a two+ year time period that were analyzed were to execute search warrants. That is an everyday police activity. Most of those were to search for drugs and SWAT was used because of there was supposed to be a heightened risk to officers due to the presences of weapons. In only 35% of the cases were ANY firearms found. SWAT teams are not being used for the purpose that they were originally intended.

My issue is that they are armored personnel carriers. They are being obtained with DHS money under the guise of protecting us from terrorism and they're not being used for that. The Ohio State campus police got funding for one that they use on game days to "provide a police presence." They are being used in unnecessary SWAT raids. You can check out my thread on that instead of discussing it here. And I did pay attention to where you said usually. I said that is a common misnomer. A LOT of these vehicles are bought new and distributed to agencies. A Humvee like was listed earlier was likely surplus but the BearCats and other vehicles are not.

That's a common misnomer, it depends on which program they come from: It is clear that local law enforcement agencies use DHS funds ostensibly obtained for the purpose of fighting terrorism to conduct ordinary law enforcement activities. In New Hampshire, for example, three police departments—in Concord, Keene, and Manchester (cities that are separated from each other by approximately 30 miles)—each used DHS grants to fund the purchase of an armored BearCat (the amount of grants received by these agencies ranged from $215,000 to $286,000). Justifications offered for these grants included prevention, protection, response, and recovery activities pertaining to weapons of mass destruction and the threat of terrorism That isn't one vehicle shared by 3 nearby cites, each city got the funding for one. They cost taxpayers at least $615,000.

Whether they are fully automatics or not they are being given a lot of heavy weaponry. And I'm not as misinformed as you think in regards to the money spent on these vehicles and other equipment. While it is true that a lot of these vehicles are given to the various law enforcement agencies a lot of them as well as a lot of other equipment is brand new. It is purchased by the DOD and then distributed--it isn't just surplus. Here's a quote from a report on the subject: The 1033 statute authorizes the Department of Defense to transfer property that is “excess to the needs of the Department,”63 which can include new equipment; in fact, 36 percent of the property transferred pursuant the program is brand new.64 Thus, it appears that DLA can simply purchase property from an equipment or weapons manufacturer and transfer it to a local law enforcement agency free of charge. Given that more than a third of property transferred under the program is in fact new, it appears that this practice happens with some regularity.

The thread about the shooting in Ferguson, MO brought up again the issue of the militarization of our law enforcement agencies. While doing some research I came across an article that contained a link to a PDF file of an ACLU report on the use of SWAT teams. What it contains should alarm everyone. This report examines 800 uses of SWAT teams by 20 agencies over the period of 2011-12. SWAT teams were originally designed for use for extreme situations like a hostage or active shooter situation. Increasingly they are being used to serve warrants for drug offenses etc. In the report 62% of the times SWAT was used it was used for drug searches. 79% of the time it was deployed it was used to serve warrants. It should alarm everyone that this is the direction that our law enforcement community is going. The very tactics used create a feeling that the public is the enemy in these situations. The report also shows that these deployments disproportionately occur against people of color. You'll have to download the PDF and it is a long report but one that everyone should read. War Comes Home

Which only shows that there is less white on white murder. The point that SF was trying to make is that whites were being shot by police at a higher rate than people of color in LA--and that is just not true.

Doesn't that show 99 officer involved homicides of whites, 262 officer involved shootings of Hispanics, 140 officer involved shootings of blacks and 13 officer involved shootings of Asians? That clearly DOES NOT show that whites are being killed in officer involved shootings at a higher rate than people of color in LA.

The reports that I read said that in departments that use them that not only did the use of force in arrests go down significantly but claims of police brutality went down as well. That tells me that they help protect the officers that do things the right way from false claims.

Why wouldn't I? Sniper rifles pointed at peaceful protestors with their hands in the air? No fly zones? Journalists arrested for trespassing at a McDonalds where they were customers? The police chief saying that they persons that arrested them must not have known what they were doing? Those same people that he said did not know what they are doing are running around in riot gear with heavy weaponry. Why would I not want it investigated. I hope several of the people in power end up in jail.

Here's a link to an ACLU report on the militarization of police forces that gives a great deal of detail on the subject. You'll have to download the PDF file and read it but there is a lot of information there that should alarm you: https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/war-comes-home-excessive-militarization-american-police-report

What are you even trying to say? That makes no sense at all.

Wasn't making a statement either way as to whether it was a problem. Either you're putting words in my mouth, which I do not appreciate, or you haven't read the whole thread. There were a lot of comments asking about how often people of color are shot by police vs. whites. I posted a link that I found that gave good statistics for LA--nothing more, nothing less.

According to most accounts he was shot once while in the vehicle. That would seem to indicate that the officer had his weapon at that point. All accounts that I have read said that all subsequent shots were fired with the victim's hands in the air or while he was lying on the ground.

How we lookin' now?

If there isn't grant money for it there should be. Maybe they could shift some of the money that is being given to the Mayberry Police Departments of this country for armored vehicles and machine guns to buying body cameras for all officers. That would be a good place to start.

The Bushwood Country Club Gophers select, Mason Crosby, PK Green Bay.

Evidently they don't know better. :ohbrother:

This behavior is unacceptable. I hope that the officers that are choosing to disregard the Constitution are not only fired, but prosecuted as well. Totally ridiculous behavior. The arrests should begin with the police chief: Ferguson chief tells me @WesleyLowery and @ryanjreilly's arresters were "probably somebody who didn't know better." He's got officers running around in riot gear, with tear gas, assault weapons and armored vehicles who don't know better than to falsely arrest journalists? Ridiculous. Thank goodness these officers that "don't know better" haven't killed any innocent people--YET.

Whether those in the law enforcement community care to admit it or not the militarization of police is becoming a huge issue in this country right now.