"Police arrest demonstrators in Hart Bridge protest during evening rush hour"

[peestandingup]

While I'm not as torn up about it as Simms, I share some of his points of view. Not that I don't support protests when its called for (Occupy did start out different, Simms), but I just can't get behind this & sure ain't gonna be guilted into doing so.

What's so odd is that this came outta left field. I get it, you're pissed, too many die, etc & its gone on for far too long. But its almost like some blacks are using the failings of a lot of their communities & taking it out on whites, all whites, like they're the cause of all their strife. And super lefty SJW whites are joining in because, well, that's what they do. Not knocking them for it & they're free to do whatever, but damn. Ultra leftists are giving far rights a run for their money in the crazy department lately. In media, blogs & forums, social media, etc. It's everywhere. I'm usually pretty left leaning, but I can't be the only one who's noticed it.

Anyways, at least the protesters linked above from Jax (the bus stop shooting) have the right idea. That needs to happen all day, every day, anytime there's a shooting/murder in these communities. Start self policing them if you have to. That would certainly go a lot further than hippies shaming cops in public that haven't done anything to deserve it.

[camarocane]

The so called "innocent" citizens all seemed to be fighting back when they were "murdered". Which others would you be referring to?

I am definitely not comfortable with someone deciding to execute me. Fortunately that is just another one of your opinions as to what happened.
Stephen, believe me my friend I've been trying to wrap my head around this for quite some time. I appreciate your angle but I just don't see it.

[peestandingup]

Peestandingup:  Believing in the sanctity of life and in the rule of Law and a trial by jury is what is at stake.

None of these issues or 'leftists', at least not to anyone that isn't a monarchist or a dictator.

I agree with that, really I do. And I understand that a lot of cases aren't as clear cut as the cops would want us to believe. I think we've spoken enough that you know my feelings on militarization of police & our plutocracy society.

On the other hand, I also recognize that if Im living the life of crime, and I mean hard crimes, looting, threatening people, getting into tussles with cops, trying to strip them of their guns, etc, then the outcome is that I'll probably eventually be killed (or seriously injured or in jail). And I wouldn't want anyone to protest it (no one likely would anyway) because honestly, why would they? If my intent is to take someone else's life (or cause them great bodily harm) & they kill me instead, then why be outraged about it?

It would be a shame, sure. But it would be the life I chose. I guess we could look at poverty, upbringing, social class, influences, etc to go deeper on the "why" & the "how", but still. In the end no one forced me.

[fsquid]

life sucks, but a fucking helmet.

[bill]

The so called "innocent" citizens all seemed to be fighting back when they were "murdered". Which others would you be referring to?

I am definitely not comfortable with someone deciding to execute me. Fortunately that is just another one of your opinions as to what happened.
Stephen, believe me my friend I've been trying to wrap my head around this for quite some time. I appreciate your angle but I just don't see it.

It is not an angle but an agenda.

[simms3]

Good to see Duval getting involved. I understand the protest. What I really love is the annoyed irritation that "some" feel....its good, now you CAN FEEL that same irritation many of us black guys have felt. That feeling of unfairness, that feeling of having to be good perfect black boys "carlton banks" types just to get our fair share. You people are really saying protesters should be struck by vehicles because traffic is backed up? Why is your life so important, but no one elses is? Just sit there, be apart of history and shut the fukk up. If some of you refuse to understand the point of view of the protesters, then you should be made to understand. This will come in making random people suffer, by stealing their time away from them. Hey at lease you didn't lose your life........

+1.

Sorry Simms, I'm glad that people protest and get involved and passionately care about their cities.

It was one of the things that I loved about living in San Francisco actually.  And Paris for that matter.  It makes you feel like regular people are viscerally connected to their cities.

Stephen - as a current now going on 3 year resident of San Francisco (how long were you here?), this is not how we are.  This is NO different from the violence, looting, vandalism, riots, and arson that occurred after the Giants just won their 3rd World Series (I've been here for 2 of these things - how many Giants World Series championships were you around for?).

This is the same crowd that was involved in the now infamous Occupy showdown in Oakland a few years back.  We're talking about the SAME ~5,000 ultra-violent and riled up anarchists that instigate and do all of these riots and "protests" that the Bay Area is so known for.  There are over 8 MILLION more people in the Bay Area, and all indications are that the vast vast vast majority of these 8+ million people are sick of what's going on!  And you can bet the vast majority of these 8 million people are liberal, considering the Bay Area is this country's most liberal area.

I wish you could see reality instead of the idealism in your mind.

While I'm not as torn up about it as Simms, I share some of his points of view. Not that I don't support protests when its called for (Occupy did start out different, Simms), but I just can't get behind this & sure ain't gonna be guilted into doing so.

What's so odd is that this came outta left field. I get it, you're pissed, too many die, etc & its gone on for far too long. But its almost like some blacks are using the failings of a lot of their communities & taking it out on whites, all whites, like they're the cause of all their strife. And super lefty SJW whites are joining in because, well, that's what they do. Not knocking them for it & they're free to do whatever, but damn. Ultra leftists are giving far rights a run for their money in the crazy department lately. In media, blogs & forums, social media, etc. It's everywhere. I'm usually pretty left leaning, but I can't be the only one who's noticed it.

Anyways, at least the protesters linked above from Jax (the bus stop shooting) have the right idea. That needs to happen all day, every day, anytime there's a shooting/murder in these communities. Start self policing them if you have to. That would certainly go a lot further than hippies shaming cops in public that haven't done anything to deserve it.

Totally.

Peestandingup:  Believing in the sanctity of life and in the rule of Law and a trial by jury is what is at stake.

None of these issues or 'leftists', at least not to anyone that isn't a monarchist or a dictator.

I agree with that, really I do. And I understand that a lot of cases aren't as clear cut as the cops would want us to believe. I think we've spoken enough that you know my feelings on militarization of police & our plutocracy society.

On the other hand, I also recognize that if Im living the life of crime, and I mean hard crimes, looting, threatening people, getting into tussles with cops, trying to strip them of their guns, etc, then the outcome is that I'll probably eventually be killed (or seriously injured or in jail). And I wouldn't want anyone to protest it (no one likely would anyway) because honestly, why would they? If my intent is to take someone else's life (or cause them great bodily harm) & they kill me instead, then why be outraged about it?

It would be a shame, sure. But it would be the life I chose. I guess we could look at poverty, upbringing, social class, influences, etc to go deeper on the "why" & the "how", but still. In the end no one forced me.

Really Stephen?  This is about the sanctity of the Trial by Jury, which is at risk??  Both of the major incidents went to trials by jury, where minorities and women and all sorts of "minority" groups (I'm sure at least one or more of the jurors was gay or lesbian!) came to a decision based on the facts at hand, many of such facts were not available to us, because we were not selected to RISK our own lives and leave our families and work to go to these highly controversial trials.

What's not being mentioned here, STEPHEN, is that the level of violence and backlash against these juries is going to do much much more to put Trial by Jury at risk.  I know that at this point, I personally would do ALL in my power to avoid ever serving on such a jury.  Why risk my life and be put in the position of being part of a team that acquits a white officer who shoots a black male?

Justice was served in my mind.  I'm offended by all these people who are race baiting and saying otherwise.  There are problems FAR DEEPER than these two trials.  Many of these problems can't be "fixed" by white people and white people alone.  They are intrinsic problems that will take a lot of understanding on all sides, time, and lots of effort almost exclusively by the people most touched and involved with such problems.

What I see here in the Bay Area is this: Asians come with no money and no English language skills, and within 1-3 generations they are going to Stanford and serving on boards and inventing things, contributing, etc.  Asians, like ALL people, have been through the ringer.  There is racism towards them, too.  They still end up thriving and contributing without taking.  There isn't an elevated level of anger, violence, and angst with them.  They are the most intensely brilliant and hard working loose "race" of people (I say that loosely because in reality Asians are actually MORE diverse in their appearance and culture than most if not any other people).

So screw Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, these protesters, and the bums (white bums) I sat next to in Starbucks today while I did the best I could to work without power while they argued about why they should have free coffee and a place to stay (and the girl was talking about some instance where she wasn't going to share something with someone else, etc).

I am so OVER the lazy, the victim mentality, the entitled mentality, etc etc.

These protests have really wakened a sleeping giant of people just sick of it.  What I like about liberals is that they really 99% of the time have the best intentions.  They just want to help people.  They put up with a lot of shit about their intentions or about the actual results, and even they themselves endure much frustration and lack of gratitute from people they have helped.  But these kinds of protests I think, and feel, have really really touched a lot of nerves.  I say that from ground zero of liberal land.

heavens to betsy, camarocane.  You were 'suffering' because there was a traffic jam?  Poor thing.  Take those nasty terrible agitators away and torture them.

Imagine how Eric Garner felt, or the families of all those people murdered by cops with no fear of reprisals.

Why does it take you being held up in traffic to notice that other people are actually suffering?

Stephen, a 1-2 time light delay in Jax (relatively speaking) is not something absolutely horrible, and nobody is saying so.  But what you can't do is put yourself in the shoes of people to whom it may be a big deal.  You can't put yourselves in their shoes because you haven't had the same traditional high stress 9-5 type of job that many have.

What I can tell you from my personal experience is that if you're late to an appointment, late to meet a deadline, have to PEE really badly, have to GIVE BIRTH (as in the case of a woman here in the Bay Area), there will be some people who won't understand any excuse.  These protests genuinely took a toll.  Many times many people had difficulty getting home from work.  Meetings were missed.  Retailers lost business, and in many cases their stores.

It's almost as if the protesters are punishing the world for no reason.  It's stupid, and enduring weeks of this wears on you.  Come back if these things grow and become a thing in Jax and your life is disrupted day in and day out.

[Jameson]

heavens to betsy, camarocane.  You were 'suffering' because there was a traffic jam?  Poor thing.  Take those nasty terrible agitators away and torture them.

Imagine how Eric Garner felt, or the families of all those people murdered by cops with no fear of reprisals.

Why does it take you being held up in traffic to notice that other people are actually suffering?

This:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cziOFk5n9Fs

And again, "murder" is your opinion, not fact.

[Jameson]

simms3, you are absolutely right. This is the second coming of the Occupy crowd which has latched on to the Ferguson and Garner tragedies in order to hijack them and push their agenda.

They don't want justice. They don't want peace. They don't want understanding. They don't want tolerance. They are useful idiots that want to sensationalize events because they are so desperate to be a "part" of something.

[ben4prez]

Point of protests made perfectly on FCC Friday Roundup: John Burr uses standard talking point, "Why didn't they protest the kid killed on the northside?" Caller informs him that there was a protest, but...no media.

Rather than the obligatory 20 second, the Hart Bridge Protesters got the first seven minutes of the newscast. They played the media's game and we've been talking about it all week. They dominated this week's newscycle. Otherwise, they would just have been another "drive by issue".

Not this time.

[simms3]

Sims the poster To whom I'm responding lives in Jacksonville not San Francisco. And I get it that you are inconvenienced, it's inconvenient. I lived in San Francisco for a couple of years, and it's common all over the city you should get out of the financial district more, LOL.

That's your response!  I seem to recall somewhere on here where you lived there for 6 months.  And much of the crazy s**t happens in the financial district and downtown area because it's DOWNTOWN, and no I don't live downtown, as most people don't.  This sort of thing DOES NOT happen without the Occupy Movement hijacking it every few years or so.  There are many peaceful protests and marches in the city for various issues (most of them downtown or near the Civic Center) that are not disruptive.

Most of the disruptive stuff affects the East Bay and I personally have not been affected, though know those who have.  I am angry just watching it all go down, I can only imagine how I would feel IF I were indeed affected.

Want to know something else that will shock you?  I live with a 5th generation San Franciscan who is a Republican!  Quit claiming this place Stephen - people there, liberal, conservative, black, white, we're all sick of the bulls**t.  It is the Occupy crowd all over again.  Worthless people and you're apparently part of that worthless group of people.

[tufsu1]

It is the Occupy crowd all over again.  Worthless people and you're apparently part of that worthless group of people.

somehow, I'm betting you wouldn't take so kindly to people type-casting you Simms

[simms3]

^^^I actually get type-casted on this very forum all the time, as Stephen just randomly did with his Ortega comment (just as Jax has such a hold overall on its people; once an Ortegan always one despite no ties whatsoever to the place and a decade absence from living there...so yea it gets old but I just let it slide).  I'm pretty used to it actually.

But I get tired of Stephen romanticizing the hell out of a San Francisco that doesn't exist and speaking to it as if it's something he lives and breathes (as he does with sooo many places it seems).  Some of the things I've heard him say about some places makes me question a few things...he sounds like my parents do when they talk about NYC - they just can't seem to understand that people don't want to live in the UES because that was the only place one comfortably could in the 70s.  These places change...

And ftr (for Stephen), there are *very few* Jacksonville people here.  I know of only a couple...they either followed the same path I did (school, job, etc) or came to SF just to be in SF the way people flock to Denver (one is gay and getting married, which you can't do in FL anyway).  My pretty knowledgeable firsthand experience is that Jax is a very small community (duh...#s don't lie), that it's far far away and hard to get in and out of, specifically to/from the W Coast, which limits connections to the place, and not a lot of people actually get out of the city of Jax to begin with.  Those that do tend to stay in the SE, or maybe do a stint in DC or NYC for a few years before oddly flocking back "home" to Jacksonville to settle down while still in their 20s.

So...this city you frequently speak to does not exist.  And I don't know how long you lived there (I seem to remember 6 months but then you just said 2 years), nor do I know how long ago that was (though the mayor you reference, who was actually Democrat not Republican but perhaps "conservative" relative to the Communist Mayor Agnos before him...Agnos is sadly still around, was from the early 90s before tech was really even a big thing)...but the way you speak just irks me.  And you have a good way of covering your ass, and talking out of it, but you know as well as I know there is a difference between some random vigil march, which occurs frequently in many cities, not just SF, and these violent crazy protests, which DON'T occur frequently and require the work of the Occupy crowd/anarchists, etc.  You were mixing the two and I was attempting to separate them.  But good job on your suave way of covering your ass and talking out of it at the same time.  My injection of the "Republican" roommate was merely to point out to you that your romanticizing the place is merely some stereotype that isn't fully true.  It was not to do anything different.

Also, tufsu1, you can stuff if.  You and I will never agree on anything or get along, even if we were to meet in real life.

[peestandingup]

I'm a sucker for protests & general disorder to grab people's attention & ripping off the veil, but what exactly were they protesting? Mike Brown?? I saw some of them wearing shirts with "hands up don't shoot". Wasn't it pretty much established that this wasn't true, like at all? If so, then what are they doing??

From DC today. Hands up? Check. Mike Brown poster? Check. So yeah, seems this is still a thing.