Right? Genuinely unbelievable.

I always have this link ready to go, because you would be totally reasonable in assuming it’s their main job, but our lovely Supreme Court says otherwise.

Edit: here’s a non-paywalled link

Yes please, I’ll have one of those.

That’s a fair point, I appreciate it. Knives are a dangerous weapon, no doubt about it. They just don’t represent the same level of danger as a loaded gun. But your point is well taken.

Wait, I never used snapchat, so I could be totally off base, but don’t Snapchat messages get automatically deleted? Isn’t that the whole point? Haven’t they already been caught deceiving users into thinking their deleted photos are actually gone? This just seems so gross.

Cops are too quick to use violence. That’s just a sad reality. Violence is not necessarily the correct response to a violent situation. There are ton of techniques to deescalate even the most violent and dangerous situations. Granted, the NYPD isn’t trained in those techniques, so that’s a big problem, but the cops put the public in more danger than the danger the cops faced by this one violent individual. Personally, I would rather the police put public safety above all else, including themselves. I know asking anyone to put themselves at risk to protect another person is a lot to ask, but if cops aren’t willing to do that, then it comes down to us. And in that case, what are the cops for?

I come from an over-policed city, where I am genuinely afraid of every cop I see, because of stories just like this.

So you don’t think cops should be required to gauge the risk to the public before they gauge the risk to themselves? They chose a dangerous career, and seem unwilling to accept the risks that come along with it. A knife is less dangerous than a loaded gun, I don’t think that’s a controversial thing to say.

Honestly? The guy had a knife, which might have injured one of the cops, maybe. US police are far too afraid for their own safety, and automatically reach for their gun when they think there might be the slightest minor chance that they could be in a little bit of danger.

If being in dangerous situations makes you open fire in a crowd of random innocent people, then you should not be a cop. Cops need to learn to accept the risks they signed up for, de-escalate, and protect the public before they obsess over protecting themselves. I know protecting the public is not technically their job, but opening fire in a crowded subway is laughably irresponsible, and should be an immediate fireable offense.

Only by the litter. The whole litter.

100%

Here’s a very recent example of just that.

Yeah, that would make any kind of political speech practically impossible. Activism? Nope, out of the question. Creative artistic expression? Better watch out for the thought police.

We don’t need “best behavior,” that would be so incredibly boring.

His out of touch suggestion is completely incompatible with democracy.

Let me preface this by saying I believe in science. But it’s worth remembering that scientists are people. And science like this, while it may sound cool and promising, obviously carries massive irreversible risks, and that’s before we take the people into account. I don’t care how closely they monitor the experiments. I count these types of trials in the same vein as releasing genetically modified mosquitos into the wild to breed an infertile generation. Sounds like it could maybe work, but the risks and potential unforeseeable knock-on effects are not worth it.

There was public backlash for a reason. And while I’m not normally in favor of catering to a public that is mostly scientifically-illiterate, in some cases the gut reaction is the right one.