A little apple/orange. The reason given for cops asking folks to step outside is to get them where they can talk more freely if someone unwanted is inside (holding anothe family member hostage in an extrme example). Having looked thru the house you were in, that reason to get you outside wouldn’t apply.

And no, Gates house was not “burgled.” Burglary is unlawful entry. The last I checked, it’s not unlawful to force the door (not even the lock – the jamb was just stuck) of one’s own home.

I don’t believe anyone suggested Gates actually burgled his own house. Nor anyone claim forcing your way into your own home is illegal. Can we dispense with the straw men?

As for Gates’ house not having been burgled at all, from Gates himself:

It looked like someone’s footprint was there. So it’s possible that the door had been jimmied, that someone had tried to get in while I was in China.

So burglers in the neighborhood may not have been such a remote possibility.

Indeed. That’s why I included both quotes above. Dennis is appropriately placed next to Boss Limbaugh and Lt. Beck.

It’s astonishing that you think the full quote is somehow better than the abbreviated version and not significantly fucking worse.

I didn’t say that, fafaroo. That’s you assuming again and printing it as fact, a hack-tactical mistake you frequently employ here. You and I have argued before about the ethics of lifting half of a sentence and reprinting it so that others, like Indeed in this case about ten times already, can reprint it over and over. If you think it’s ok, fine, have at it, but the only thing I’ve said about the Limbaugh quote is that I disagree with Oliver’s depiction of it, that he implied that being black is like a cancer. If you read the whole sentence, or if you took the time to listen to the whole interview, the implication Oliver makes doesn’t come across. It only comes across if you listen to the 2 second clip he posted and the partial sentence phrase Indeed keeps repeating with delight.

It’s astonishing that you think the full quote is somehow better than the abbreviated version and not significantly fucking worse.

Is he f%&*king serious? Somebody please tell me Joaquin is actually Steven Colbert doing his ‘shtick’ online….

That is not true. The first thing Sgt. Crowley did was ask Dr. Gates to step out on the porch when he first arrived. That is proper procedure for an officer to follow when arriving at a residence where a break in has been reported.

experienced an incident a couple of years ago in which the police were summoned to the house I was staying in in Seattle with my kids. It belonged to my sister-in-law, and a disgruntled ex-employee had called the police with some threats. They asked to come in an look around, so of course we said yes. After a cursory check of the house and a few questions, they left. Not once did they suggest that we step outside the home.

Well, I had the same situation happen to me and the first thing they did was tell me to step outside.

Dennis, at the point Gates was asked to step outside the house, he had already shown the officer his ID. When the officer arrived at the residence, Gates was on the phone talking to the Harvard housing agency about the front door. There was no justifiable cause at the point he was asked to step outside to believe that a burglary was going on.

I experienced an incident a couple of years ago in which the police were summoned to the house I was staying in in Seattle with my kids. It belonged to my sister-in-law, and a disgruntled ex-employee had called the police with some threats. They asked to come in an look around, so of course we said yes. After a cursory check of the house and a few questions, they left. Not once did they suggest that we step outside the home.

And no, Gates house was not “burgled.” Burglary is unlawful entry. The last I checked, it’s not unlawful to force the door (not even the lock – the jamb was just stuck) of one’s own home.

What harm befell Crowley from Gates’ “overreaction?” (Panties in a bunch don’t count.) What harm befell Gates from Crowley’s?

Is “overreaction” by a private citizen in his own home a crime? Is an “overreaction” in the course of a police officer’s conduct that results in an arrest, mug shots, time in jail, eventually the recognition that the charges are ridiculous and a waste of tax funds, etc. harmful to Gates?

Finally, do we have any reason to expect responsible conduct on the part of police?

(Psst…the charges were still dropped. I checked again.)

…because Republican Supreme Leader Rush Limbaugh is saying our President is “an Angry Black Man.” KKKlassy!

I’m sorry but how exactly does one harass somebody in their own home when that person has left the home?

Is there some kind of mental telepathy harassment going on?

Gates’ own statement doesn’t describe himself as being harassed inside the home.

My own view is that both of these guys, Gates and the officer, overreacted and contributed to things escalating unnecessarily. I don’t see why folks seem compelled to overstate and even make up things just to be able to say all the blame is on one particular side.

The Professor and the Cambridge Police

…….
“I understand Gates’ frustration with dealing with police. But by all accounts Gates acted ’stupidly’ and the situation escalated into ‘tumultuously disturbing the peace’. University and Cambridge police were there for the arrest and all are saying that Gates was apoplectic.

The cops have a tough job, calling their actions stupid and taking the PC side, especially with a buddy, is not leadership. A ‘no comment until I have all the facts’ was that only thing Obama should have said. The president injected race into this with his presidential mighty megaphone… for no good reason.….

EDIT: the ‘home is my castle’ thread that keeps coming up: The papers have reported that it is routine police policy to get burglary victims (real or perceived) out of the house (Gates house was burgled, that’s why he had trouble with the door). This is so that victims can be out of earshot of bad guys potentially holding family members hostage, this is to control a potential home invasion gone bad. Not an attempt to arrest somebody ‘outside’.

Just shoot yourself now, because the air you are breathing could be put to better use by a worthwhile human being. Or maybe a cockroach.

Black officer at scholar’s home supports arrest

A black police officer who was at Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s home when the black Harvard scholar was arrested says he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.

Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said supported Crowley “100 percent.”.…
—————–

Shorter soullite: “If you don’t agree with me, I hope you die.”
—————–

Go tell the black police officer who was at the scene that he should just off himself because he doesn’t agree with your opinion of what happened and who was in the right and who was in the wrong, and just who was harrassing who, soullite.

Go ahead and say “n****r-lover” joaquin. You know you want to.

Ignore the race issue. Ignore class issues. Ignore who is being an asshole to who. One of these people is an agent of the government, harassing a man in hiw own home, after he knows that it is his own home. I’m not really sure wht sort of olympic-level gymnastics you have to go through to make that okay, but to be frank I don’t care. Just shoot yourself now, because the air you are breathing could be put to better use by a worthwhile human being. Or maybe a cockroach.

If I split the cost with you, can we both learn?

Works for me.

Me too.

Not being
a) black
b) a cop
c) a black cop
or d) a Masshole

I vow not to have an opinion. Although I will say that invoking Tawana is quite the stretch.