Chris Christie playing softball

deadspin sums the rest of it up.

re: eric garner

Over 100 Broadway stars, directors, producers, musicians, choreographers, designers and technicians from some of the most prominent productions gathered in front of the police station in Times Square on Tuesday. They wanted to send a message about police violence and the killing of Eric Garner. ‪#‎itstopstoday‬ ‪#‎blukluxklan‬ (via)

i can't do better than gawker's description

"Cool Horse Trots Around NYC Without a Care Except the Cops Chasing Him"

someone (or some THING) put these two faded out American flags on the Brooklyn Bridge piers overnight and the NYPD just removed them

more info here

NYPD dummies.

so back around the west indies parade time, a bunch of racist NYPD cops (allegedly!) started a facebook page, and proceeded to publish thousands of ill-advised comments under their real names. the new york times has found that 60% of the names of those involved are also the names of police officers, so.

The comments in the online group, which grew over a few days to some 1,200 members, were at times so offensive in referring to West Indian and African-American neighborhoods that some participants warned others to beware how their words might be taken in a public setting open to Internal Affairs “rats.”

But some of the people who posted comments seemed emboldened by Facebook’s freewheeling atmosphere. “Let them kill each other,” wrote one of the Facebook members who posted comments under a name that matched that of a police officer.

“Filth,” wrote a commenter who identified himself as Nick Virgilio, another participant whose name matched that of a police officer. “It’s not racist if it’s true,” yet another wrote.

classic.

“They can keep the forced overtime,” said one writer, adding that the safety of officers comes “before the animals.”

Wrote another: “Bloodbath!!! The worst detail to work.”

“I say have the parade one more year,” wrote a commenter who identified himself as Dan Rodney, “and when they all gather drop a bomb and wipe them all out.” Reached on Monday, Mr. Rodney confirmed that he was a police officer and that he had used Facebook, though rarely, but denied making the comment. “That wasn’t me,” he said before suggesting that someone else might have been responsible. “I leave my phone around sometimes. Other than that I have no comment.” (via)

have you been hearing about the hipster cop?

he's a (possi-gay?) NYPD detective that dresses trendily. the internet loves him. the new york times is even on top of things, for once. here's a recent interview in GQ.

GQ: Tell me about what you're wearing today.
Rick Lee: This is pretty average for me. For work anyway. The jacket and cardigan are Ralph Lauren. The tie is Burberry. The shirt is Ralph Lauren, too. These are J.Crew pants. And Ralph Lauren shoes. Lot of Ralph Lauren. My best friend works for Ralph Lauren.

GQ: What are your duties down at Occupy Wall Street?
Rick Lee: Just to give you some background: I do Community Affairs down at the First Precinct. There's basically one of me—not as smashingly dressed, in every precinct. It's my job in general to be the liaison between the precinct and the community we serve. We serve, oddly enough, SoHo—big fashion area, TriBeCa, and Battery Park City. Basically from Houston St. down to the Battery. My specific job being down here watching the guys who bang on the drums is to keep the peace. Between not only the police and the protesters, but also the protesters and the community.

GQ: Are you sympathetic to the movement?
Rick Lee: It's hard to say that because everyone in the Park has their own agenda of why they're here. Like I could talk to a guy and he could be upset that he gets taxed, and I can understand that because I get taxed every two weeks when I get paid. But somebody else might be into, like, Communism or something. Which I'm not really into. I can't relate politically that way. But people have their right to voice their opinion in America. They have a right to demonstrate. It's a good thing. But there's probably 200 people in the park right now and 400 different opinions of why they're here. Though, generally, a lot of well-read, very smart, very articulate people are here. I've become friends with a few people. It's kinda cool.
(via)

woah.

(via)

nypd : jerks?

i actually stumbled onto this scene saturday afternoon, and while i didn't know exactly what was going on, the police response seemed a little excessive for what was a relatively small group of nonviolent protesters on 12th street. here's the follow-up on the particular pepper spray incident:

When members of the loose protest movement known as Occupy Wall Street began a march from the financial district to Union Square on Saturday, the participants seemed relatively harmless, even as they were breaking the law by marching in the street without a permit.

But to the New York Police Department, the protesters represented something else: a visible example of lawlessness akin to that which had resulted in destruction and violence at other anticapitalist demonstrations, like the Group of 20 economic summit meeting in London in 2009 and the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in 1999. (via)