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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 22, 2024

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On Sunday I speculated that the Dems will use a George Floyd-like psychological operation to increase Democrat turnout in the election. Today, Kamala issued a statement about Sonya Massey, a black woman killed by police whose body cam footage was released recently:

Sonya Massey deserved to be safe. After she called the police for help, she was tragically killed in her own home at the hands of a responding officer sworn to protect and serve. Doug and I send strength and prayers to Sonya’s family and friends, and we join them in grieving her senseless death.

I join President Biden in commending the swift action of the State’s Attorney’s Office and in calling on Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, a bill that I coauthored in the Senate. In this moment, in honor of Sonya’s memory and the memory of so many more whose names we may never know, we must come together to achieve meaningful reforms that advance the safety of all communities.

The body cam footage shows two police officers answering a call from Massey about a prowler in her yard. Massey acts mentally unwell throughout the encounter, answers that she is on medication when asked about her mental health, and has a difficult time telling the officers what her last name is or retrieving her photo ID. The officers are somewhat friendly if impatient, but the vibe changes when Massey grabs a pot of boiling water after the officers requested she turn off the stove. The officers say they are stepping back while she grabs the boiling water (crazy people may use boiling water as a weapon, something that has lead Starbucks to ban giving patrons boiling water), and Massey says “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus”. Either because of this statement or because of a physical sign we don’t pick up on the body cam, an officer points his gun and demands that she drop the boiling water. She does not drop the boiling water but instead continues to hold on to it. Right before she is shot the body cam just barely picks up Massey throwing the boiling water toward the officers, with the water landing on the ground and steaming where it landed. I want to thank Twitter user Fartblaster4000 for turning that moment into a helpful gif.

Massey’s death is certainly not the preferred outcome of the encounter. Once the officers picked up on Massey being crazy, they should have mentally decided to leave her house if she did something like equip a plausible weapon. The three seconds that the officer gives for Massey to drop the pot of boiling water was insufficient — of course, the pot was in her hand and thrown toward the officer before the officer shot. Springfield is the third most criminal city in America, so perhaps the officers did not believe they had the resources to call mental health professionals in their place. In any case I do not think that the officers should have moved toward her but instead left the premises until they felt she did not pose a threat. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for crazy people to attack police officers with whatever is around, and it’s rational to be afraid of a crazy person who has a pot of scalding water in their hands, able to disfigure you for life.

According to a UPenn study, BLM may have been the political ingredient that shifted the election toward Joe Biden:

Mutz also notes that roughly 90% of voters reliably vote with their party, and only about 10% of voters are likely to shift their vote from one party to another. It was that group that she focused on, finding that as their awareness of discrimination against Black people rose, so too did their likelihood of voting for Biden. Interestingly, many voters who had voted for third parties in 2016 also shifted to major party candidates in 2020, and disproportionately moved toward Biden.

Concern surrounding COVID-19 caused voters on both sides of the aisle to favor their own candidate more, but it did not cause any significant vote change from Trump to Biden or vice versa. Nor, Mutz says, did factors relating to the economic effects of COVID. As levels of concern about COVID became increasingly partisan, the issue lost its ability to change vote choice so much as to reinforce it. Does that mean BLM decided the election? That question remains unanswered

If the relevant voters are swayed more by victimhood narratives than Covid, this explains why Republicans are bringing up the topic of migrant rapes. I predict we are going to see more victimhood narratives in the coming months!

The body cam footage shows...

Link's down for me. Here is the canonical source.

Right before she is shot the body cam just barely picks up Massey throwing the boiling water toward the officers,

EDIT: I didn't realize there were two perspectives posted. This is the first bodycam only, and I haven't edited the following paragraph.

The first gunshot is at 14:19 and 16 frames. The water splash becomes visible beside the counter at 14:19 and 28 frames. Half a second of lag doesn't require that she was in the middle of throwing it as she was shot (but that's still possible), and it definitely wasn't before they fired.

EDIT: and the second...

Dammit. From 28:21-28:22 she's throwing the pot. She left it on the counter (with potholders on her hands), then reached up and grabbed it and threw it. There's no sound, but amateur synchronization puts 14:19.28 at 28:22.15, which puts the first shot in the middle of her throw.

Thanks for the timestamps.

I think she was trying to ambush them, which is why she had the pot boiling to begin with. Her motivation is likely “being crazy”. That said, the shoot could have been avoided by backing off behind the corner, but the cop may have had other considerations such as protecting his partner. It’s pretty hard to say from the videos.

The cops literally told her to go get the water, and then proceeded to shout at her for holding the water.

I'm normally against credentialism but wouldnt mind a 4 year degree requirement to become a cop, if only to filter out idiots like these from ever having any power over their fellow man.

I don’t hear the cop telling her that at all. There’s a boiling sound, I think, then Massey looks up from her purse. Then:

Massey: “One second, ” and she gets up.

Cop A: to cop B “Check on (her?)”

Massey: “… let me get this” she goes to the stove.

Cop A: “Oh(?), we don’t need a fire right over here”, which I interpret as him assenting to her moving to turn off the stove.

Massey: Turns off the stove, boiling sound subsides. “Let me see” as she picks up the pot. “Alright, OK(?)”, as she walks towards the cop with the pot in hand.

Cop A: laughs

Massey: “Where are you moving?”

Cop A: we don’t see him moving “huh?”

Massey: “Where are you going?”

Cop A: “Away from your hot steaming water!”, laughing tone of voice.

Cop B, simultaneously: “Nowhere.”

Massey: “Away from my hot steaming water?”

Cop A: “Yeah.” Not so laughing anymore.

Massey: “Ahh, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

Cop A: “huh?”

Massey: “… rebuke you in the name if Jesus”

Cop A: We see his hand on his weapon already, before Massey finishes her sentence. “You better fuckin’ not or I swear to God I’ll fuckin’ shoot you right in the fuckin’ face!”

Massey: says something, I don’t know what.

Cop A: Unholsters weapon, aims at Massey.

Massey: Ducks behind counter: “OK, I’m sorry!”, other angle shows she has no pot in her hand after ducking.

Cop A: “Drop the fuckin’ pot!”

Cop B: “Drop the fucking pot!”

Cop A: “Drop the fuckin’ pot!”

Then view is blocked, we hear shots etc.

At 13:50, the cop tells her to go check on the burner because they don’t want a fire: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HFun2GydGyU

Check on the burner does not mean “pick up the boiling water and approach us with it”, it doesn’t even mean turn it off although that it implied

You guys are seriously reaching with this.

She walks to the stove, turns it off, then carries the pot to the sink and it sounds like she dumps out the water and starts rinsing out the pot. You can hear the water running. In fact, at 16:20 here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=HFun2GydGyU you can even see that the sink is still running.

At 28:18 here in that video you can see that she has set the pot down in the sink, and when she cowers down after he starts pointing his gun at her, she only has the pot holders in her hands.

There’s no evidence she is rinsing out the pot. I have no clue where you’re getting that from.

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