No cops indicted for murder of Breonna Taylor.

https://apnews.com/28a283922de8784f6fca5c42fe8e5bca

1 officer charged for endangerment for shooting other apartments other than Breonna's. That's the only charge.

Stay safe, Louisville duders.

Reddit just went down, probably from traffic. Protests have already started. Worried things might get really bad this time. As a jew I would be shitting my pants living in a place like that right now.

All Cops something something.

Stay safe, y'all.

Yeah, that's genuinely terrifying.

This... makes me seethe. This makes me so angry at all of the rhetoric about being peaceful and not stooping to their level and taking the high road and being the bigger person. If the people in power can use the law to murder innocents and face zero repercussions for their errors, what other options are there? What can someone do that is less dangerous than literally being in their home and doing nothing to ensure that they are not a target of police brutality? Fuck. Fuck.

And so it begins...

This felt...inevitable, sadly.

@the_nubster: I agree. It also fills me with disgust how "breaking the law" is wielded like some sort of cudgel by some. "THESE RIOTERS ARE BREAKING THE LAW LOOK HOW MANY HAVE BEEN ARRESTED!" -- like, think about that? For one, the outright trust in police in the face of corruption and coverups: 1) how can you trust it?; and 2) how can you blame the response? What response is left?

Louisville on my mind again. Thoughts on all those on the streets in seemingly a variety of places. Feels like another long night.

I'd say Kentucky deserves better than punishing only the cop who couldn't shoot straight, but I wouldn't want to limit that suggestion to Kentucky.

@sethmode: This Twitter thread from Austin Walker in twenty-mother-fucking-seventeen highlights it perfectly. The ones who are pushing this narrative of fair play and level-headedness are the ones who are benefiting most from the idea, and people who mean well are getting swept up in the propganda. The right, police, institutions who want people fighting for equality to be quiet are the ones that end up being able to take advantage of the silent vacuum that exists. Bad faith actors in a protest do not excuse crowds of people being rammed with a fucking police SUV. A break in at a Wal Mart doesn't need to be answered with police gunshots. A storefront on fire does not negate the oppression and unchecked violence propogated by figures of authority. People are more important than things, human lives matter more than the economy. I'm not saying that we all need to roll out on to the streets and burn buildings down but the fuck-ass who is saying that maybe just maybe like have you thought that maybe the person being choked out in the streets was perhaps a thief, we do not need to treat that person like an intellectual equal and scour university studies disproving their gish-gallop whataboutism bullshit. It's okay to tell someone to get fucked if they're being blatantly, unapologetically racist. We don't owe racists, transphobes, homophobes the decency of considered conversation, nor do we owe them the right to be in our spaces. No one needs to be killed over property. A perfectly tolerant society will eventually become overrun by intolerance.

I'm at a loss for words. I feel like lately, every single day ends up being worse than the one previous ya know?

It's already been a long week here in Louisville. I think a lot of us knew deep down that this would be the result, and now we are finally here. It started on Monday when the LMPD started barricading a section of downtown (the blocks surrounding the park that have been the central location of protests for 120 days now). The city was on edge bracing for the inevitable. Today has been a mix of anger and disgust. I'm angry that so many people around me refuse to notice the discrimination and segregation that exists in this city.

I'm angry that so many people dismiss all the protesters displaying their pain and anguish every single day with comments like "they should get a job" or "stop the welfare checks and the shooting stops". I'm angry that a LMPD officer sent an email throughout her office saying protesters "are the people that wash our cars and check us out at Wal Mart."

I'm disgusted by the posts people in my life have made on Facebook, happy this drama is finally over so they can feel safe again. I'm disgusted by my family wanting to make this about them and claim they are the real victims. I'm disgusted by all the people who love Kentucky basketball, but refuse to listen when those very players tell them that they are hurting and instead they should be grateful they can't to play sports in our state.

I grew up outside of the city, but started my first full time position after college working in the heart of Downtown this past January. I have truly fallen in love with Louisville, which is why it is so hard to see it continue to turn it's back on those in need and pain. Their are so many great people here and I just hope that something changes instead of the divide that seems to keep growing.

Sorry if this seems like rambling, I just wanted to be able to express how I'm feeling. So many people around me refuse to listen to me say anything opposing our current police environment.

@djrebyb: don’t let them get you down. Keep speaking up.

@djrebyb: Thank you for sharing. I've sat for about twenty minutes trying to convey how I feel rn, especially because I'm on the opposite side of the world and swapping out some of the nouns in your comment echoes experiences here too. Discrimination often seems to be something people are unwilling to accept they are guilty of because they refuse to feel guilty. Sometimes people feel it is some intrinsic part of them that they have to hold onto, it makes me imagine them being birthed and immediately being given a tac helmet & plastic rifle as the 'doctor' screams "People are coming to take things from you like your birthright" before throwing them at the climbing ropes.

Currently I'm kinda/sorta ostracized from my blood family, after basically reaching a point where I was finally tired of swallowing their b.s. and taking my time to accept and understand how angry I'd grown at them for amongst other things passive enablement of racists and bigots. It was a big ask and I do love them, but it was healthy for me. I'm not advising or recommending this for anyone, but I am trying to recommend you keep up on your mental health. Broadly. Feeling surrounded by people who disgust you can take unexpected tolls.

@mightyduck: Same. Can literally not remember how far back it's been.

Just remember comrades, scratching a liberal makes a fascist bleed.

It did not get to this point without a lot of help. Nearly every major city is controlled by democrats and this keeps happening, and will continue to happen. They are not for human rights. They are for property rights and continued monopoly on violence. Just like the Republicans.

Get ready for things to get worse if there’s even a chance they get better.

Just wanna jump in and thank the OP for naming this thread correctly.

@hurricrane: dude the Kentucky Attorney General is a republican The heck are you on about?

As someone originally from Louisville who no longer lives there, it's been very difficult watching everything unfold. I've got a lot of friends and family who have been on the ground since day one, and I worry about them every day.

I now live in Chicago, and it's been surreal seeing the various murals and paintings of Breonna Taylor all over the city here. It's very bizarre knowing that the eyes of the world are on my hometown, I just wish it were for other reasons.

Brett Hankison, the only cop indicted, had a bail of $15,000. He spent less than an hour in jail.

Okay, so, does anyone know where this "alternative story" is coming from? I've had a few people tell me this week ,"no no no, you got it wrong, her and her boyfriend were awake and the cops announced they were coming in!"

I don't buy it for a minute, but all of a sudden this is the narrative people are trying to push. Is this just typical bullshit? Everything I've read and researched was that she was asleep, the cops barged in with a no knock warrant, and her boyfriend fired at the door thinking someone was breaking in.

I thought that the boyfriends statement was that they were both awake, and out of several neighbors I think only one claimed to have heard the police announce themselves. Although it is the official stance of the attorney general that they knocked and announced their presence.

These are all interesting details that some people latch on to and try to make import out of so that one can presumably focus less on the innocent woman shot to death in her own home by police.

@efesell: Yeah, it's just another side of the same coin of basically digging up dirt on their past. They did the same thing with Floyd and they even tried to do it with Botham Jean, as if finding ANY dirt is good enough to sanction murder. But I guess it is for some. Tale as old as time.

Love thy neighbor.

@sethmode: If someone commits a crime and is younger than 35 and white, it's just "boys will be boys." If they happen to be nonwhite and commit a crime--or even if they DON'T commit a crime--the cops suddenly become Judge Dredd and the penalty for existing in the same place as the cops is summary execution.

The media--yes, even the liberal media--is guilty of perpetuating this narrative. Any journalist who writes, "According to the police...," without also bringing up that police have a history of lying in official reports is guilty of journalistic malpractice.

The scary thing is how inevitable the verdict felt. The union immediately goes into self defence mode and the lawyers go to town to find whatever 'the letter of the law' is in this situation.

The game is rigged.

As someone from Belgium seeing that twitter vid legit scares the shit out of me.
It seems so unreal to someone like me that people basically get to dress up like gi joe and fucking patrol the streets with weapons like that and no one is there to put an end to it. Holy fucking shit what is this heading towards?

I hope you all stay safe out there. The world is so scary right now.

I wish I didn't, but I assumed this would be the outcome. Even after they dismissed the charges on her boyfriend, which seems an obvious indication of the officers guilt, I knew this would be the case. The law is wielded like a hammer against the civilian population and very rarely is it turned on those supposedly there to enforce it. I am so... disappointed.

@kemuri07: The entire west coast is controlled by democrats and the pigs there have gotten away with just as much as the pigs in KY. Not to mention the toxic blue MAGA people everywhere that shit on people for fighting for justice.

What a shithole country.

@hurricrane said:

Never doubt the Democrat's love lock in the "tough on crime" vote through supporting the police and increasing the number of people in jail. But when it comes even talking about police reform/defending, there is only one party even considering this. The other party just wants to give the police more APCs and legal protections.

Not for nothing, policing is an issue where local governments have far more power, if not all of it. The Chicago police being amazing trash isn't a Democrat or Republican problem, its a Chicago problem. If a magical third party ended up controlling Chicago's government, they would also have a rough time reigning the entrenched rot that is the Chicago Police.

@mightyduck: During the hearing Taylor's BF did testify that the police announced themselves very quickly followed by them barging in. He goes on to say that he shot first because it is not uncommon for actual criminals to yell "POLICE" as they are breaking in. Imo, this should not wholly be placed at the feet of the officers serving the warrant, instead it should be seen as a failure in the entire system. No knock warrants should not be a thing. These types of warrants only serve to create violent scenarios wherein officers are injured, or in the worst cases, innocent bystanders are killed.

yeah i wanted to get to this before someone posted the news with passive language or the morally bankrupt "One officer indicted in death of Breonna Taylor," which is deliberately misleading and I've been seeing it all over.

yeah half-measures have allowed the creep of totalitarianism, and half-measures against proto-fascist (increasingly actual fascist) policies are only going to create less-fascist policies. Ghandi had Bhagat Singh, MLK had Malcolm X. A peaceful movement can only pass through barriers if they get knocked over by others first. No one in positions of power are going to let you debate your way into removing their power; it'll never be on the debate stage. Dems have been known for being concession-heavy centrists ever since Reagan, paving the way for Republican policy, even during Democratic presidencies. And now their prized candidate is more regressive than their last. If anyone's still happy with the mainstream Democratic politicians at this point then you must really enjoy losing or being misrepresented and failed by every mainstream elected official in the party. If you're dissatisfied with them you should know you have alternatives outside the two-party chokehold, and they're gaining influence.

@jonasthebrother: I hear ya. This whole thing just continues to devolve into madness. I'm just at a loss for words in pretty much every aspect of life right now.

@clagnaught: wrong thread!

@jonasthebrother: Especially when it's the clear the cops have enough bodies to cover the back door if a perp wants to make a run for it.

You want to make use of a firearm the last resort and place as many obstacles in the way before you even contemplate drawing it. Too many times I've seen dashcam, bodycam or CCTV footage where the situation escalates ridiculously quick.

@development: the current protests in Belarus are a great example of how effective it is to peacefully reason with a militarized, oppressive dictator. I fear those people will with time be ground up into nothing until the status quo resumes.

It’s the opposite of a..... POLICE STATE

Thanks for pointing that out! Deleted that comment. (I was on my phone, but still had no godly idea I somehow posted on this thread)

No knock warrants are nonsense. Maybe my google-fu needs work, but I can't even find any news pushing this on why the Justice for Breonna Taylor Act hasn't gotten any movement since it was introduced on 6/11. At least Louisville banned them.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3955/

Well the federal civil rights investigtion is ongoing. And that however very rare for a federal civil rights violation case to go forth there. As the reason also the KY AG not just due to the grand jury in privacy and sensitivity of the invesitgation but also the federal civil rights investigation ongoing.