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Let's look into the recent police video that's been going viral on Twitter.
In the video, a lone man is being harassed by a group of foreigners, and they knock him to the ground and hit him. Even before he gets up, a nearby police officer, who has been doing nothing up until then, tackles him into the wall. Understandably he resists somewhat. As a result of these events, the victim in this incident has been arrested and charged, and is now having the book thrown at him. Meanwhile, no effort at all was put into catching the original attackers. The police have released a statement saying they "have no concerns over the officer's actions." They have also asked for people not to share the footage.
This event seems to echo the vibes of a recent incident in Germany where a police officer tackled a bystander, getting himself stabbed to death by a terrorist as a result. It also seems to vibe with the murder of Henry Nowak, where the mortally wounded victim was arrested by the police while his killer was right there gloating.
In the context of culture war it seems like the "right wing" has firmly swung against the police in Europe, which is a big difference from in the United States, where a large portion of the right still is on side "back the blue". Of course there is still an anti-law enforcement wing of the right in the United States, pointing at politically motivated prosecutions, as well as the kid gloves for left-affiliated rioters. I also haven't heard about any similar incidents in the US where where police intervened in a situation on the "wrong" side (though plenty of police brutality in confrontations between police and others). And often American departments are very willing to throw their officers under the rug when the do something that looks bad.
I think to the public, there's a huge difference in police arresting, beating, and killing right wingers, versus being seen as taking the side of a group. Because it's no longer state vs crime (with a sprinkle of biased treatment) but directly being seen as taking a side, though the left has always seen the authority as evil nazi thugs.
Not sure if anything will come of this trend or it's a nothingburger. Maybe increased riots and disorder among the native population, who have historically been quite docile in the last century.
This particular incident? Almost certainly a nothingburger. Nothing happened after Nowak's death beyond some impotent protests; two-tier policing and the Great Replacement continue.
Unlike the Nowak incident, here the young white man didn't die. Plus the young white man committed the sin of Hitting a Girl, which immediately makes him unsympathetic to both a large contingent of progressives and conservatives—even if she had the Power ImbalanceTM advantage of being a policewoman and he was hurt, confused, and disoriented by just having been culturally enriched.
The World Cup is on-going and especially with England still in it, this gives mainstream media more opportunities to bury or distract from the Birmingham story. Or play the reverse uno card with pro-black signal boosting: "See how Ngubu scored a fackin goal for us? Diversity is our strength!"
So we can add to the meme! Sorry your daughter got raped and your son was subject to attack and then jail as a result of the attack, but that’s the price to win at soccer
It’s not even the meme with some of these football players. The “American” who got red carded Balogon was only born here. And left at 2 months. In no meaningful sense is he American. He’s basically just a mercenary. So even if there wasn’t the issue of raping my sister for a futball player - it’s basically fraud with him playing for America. He must be the second best at his position in England.
This is something that’s annoyed me about international competitions lately (eg Olympics). There is a certain level of mercenary happening all of the time that cheapens the national element.
We have atleast 2 starters who are just cup of coffee Americans. Looks like 2 more who were military base Americans to foreign wives but never really lived in States, which is probably fine but still stretchy.
For the World Cup for a country like the US I would probably kick the cup of coffee Americans off the team (Balogun and Robinson) but keep the Air Force military brats.
The World Baseball Classic I am fine with the extreme stretchiness because it’s only going to be an exhibition since baseball doesn’t lend itself to national competitions (load management on Pitchers) and the limited geography of the game. You would only have 4-5 competitive teams (USA, Dominican, Venezuela, Japan). Throwing together a mostly second tier US team of guys with Italian surnames for Italy expands the tournament.
Overall international play seems to have at a minimum 1 degree of stretchiness too much for me.
Is that less competitive compared to say basketball?
I think a lot more countries could field a team in basketball. The gap in basketball between US and #2 in baseball was huge. The gap between US in baseball to the 2,3,4 teams today are likely smaller.
I’m not sure the U.S. would really be the favorite to win baseball. Both DR and Japan have great programs with a lot of talent.
You also have Venezuela, Korea, and other LATAM teams of varying quality.
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