#defund LAPD

[kaydub80]

I don't see how Bass isn't a one-term mayor after this

[muzzyca]

So we're all.... We're all seeing it now right? Like.... I don't want to sound like a conspiracy theorist but we can't fucking trust the government to tell us the truth or protect us.

They're here for their own power and nothing more. They won't be satiated until we've been crushed to a fine dust. This city we all live in - they want to funnel anyone and anything that isn't their able bodied, nice white, cis, straight, Christian reality out of sight and out of mind. This is no post colonial era. Oh your city is getting gentrified? Back in the day it was called colonised.

It's harder to see now. Social media bombards us with too much and far too little information. The cycle will continue until we stop it.

8.2.22. Los Angeles

LA City Council voted to criminalize sitting in public on 20% of LA’s land in an effort to strengthen police power and funnel more unhoused and Black and brown people into jails. Council members used police to clear the chamber of protesters, and nearly all people in the chamber, in order to pass the measure without protest.

[Image 1 shows a line of police officers with their backs turned to the city council bench, facing an empty council chamber minus one person sitting in a bench, possibly a journalist.]

[jdpink]

“Just pay attention. You’ll find out who’s really in charge.” Officially, stations are run by captains, with the help of an operations staff. At East L.A., Gonzalez discovered, there was a shadow government: a secretive group of sheriff’s deputies known as the Banditos.

Deputy gangs, or “subgroups,” with names like the Grim Reapers, the Regulators, and the Vikings, have plagued the sheriff’s department for fifty years.

According to a lawsuit filed by eight East L.A. deputies and the A.C.L.U., the Banditos gang “controls the East Los Angeles station like inmates running a prison yard.” Leaders, known as “shot-callers,” determined deputies’ hours, promotions, even days off. On patrol, they operated in the gray areas of law enforcement.

The mark of a Bandito is a secret numbered tattoo: a skeleton wearing a thick mustache, a bandolier, and a sombrero, and brandishing a smoking gun. (Deputy-gang tattoos are typically on the leg or the ankle.) Families of those killed by deputies allege that the deputies were “chasing ink”—trying to earn a tattoo.

In 2020, Villanueva announced a policy of zero tolerance on “deputy cliques,” and he also supported legislation that prohibits gangs in law-enforcement agencies. But, Kennedy and other critics say, the department has made no systematic attempt to determine which of its members have tattoos, and has yet to fire anyone for connection to a deputy gang. Instead, according to people who know the department well, the Banditos are thriving under Villanueva.

As a frequent guest on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, railing against “the woke left,” Villanueva has been called the Donald Trump of L.A. This year, he is running for reëlection in a crowded field: eight opponents, all claiming that they will address deputy gangs. The primary is on June 7th.

[thoughtportal]

On Monday the Los Angeles City Controller’s Office released their highly anticipated LAPD helicopter unit audit.

from https://lataco.com/

[brokenteethphotography]

Lighter almost got you lit up…

[athena5898]

(PrR) ‘The mayor and city council cutting $23 million from LA fire department to give LAPD a $138 raise is CLASS WAR’

People’s City Council - Los Angeles: (https://x.com/pplscitycouncil/status/1877206964695974172?s=46) What’s currently happening in Los Angeles is exactly what we have been warning about.

The consistent defunding of other city programs in order to give the LAPD billions a year has consequences.

An excerpt from report (https://theintercept.com/2025/01/08/la-police-budget-palisades-fires/) by The Intercept:

“We’re paying for state-sanctioned violence instead of having money to deal with the climate crisis.

We just give more money to the police, who then end up costing us more money, due to all of these settlements. It’s a never-ending loop.”

[kaydub80]

The oligarchy rules once again -- this time, at the local level.

[callese]

[greymouse42]

so i definitely want to ask about Malachi's handwriting. and also! thinking about signatures made me think about credit cards which leads me to ask : after rent and groceries, what does Malachi spend the most money on? What does he think about saving up for, if he thinks about that at all?

This is the ask that actually made me Google how much the average LAPD officer gets paid. (Defund the poliiiiiiice ✨)

Anyway Mal’s handwriting is #bad, and he stashes all his extra income in a savings account that is making, like, 0.02% interest and he does not think about it at all, which I imagine drives Jan insane. His car is a money pit, but I feel like it's a death-by-a-thousand-cuts situation. He never has to stop and save up for whatever part or tool he needs, but the project is just never done.

I think he spends a decent amount on restaurants, too. But I don't think he has any concrete financial goals. That'd require him to think about the future more than he does. Paul should maybe talk to him more about that sort of thing.

Same question about money spending back @ Jan, because it's a good one. 👀

[tieflingkisser]

LA Gave More Money to Cops While Cutting Fire Budgets. Now It’s Burning.

Less than 12 hours after a massive fire began ripping through the Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Fire Department made a rare request. All LAFD firefighters, including those off-duty, were asked to phone in their availability. Stoked by high winds, the blaze was growing quickly, and the LAFD was already fighting a losing battle. Such a summons hadn’t been issued in nearly two decades. As of January 8, the Palisades Fire is 0 percent contained. Two additional wildfires, the Hurst Fire and the Eaton Fire, are also currently at zero containment as they scorch greater Los Angeles County, burning thousands of acres, destroying over 1,100 structures, and killing at least five people. As hundreds of firefighters race to stop the spread, gusting Santa Ana winds and a landscape desiccated by a bone-dry winter — an anomaly linked to broader climate change trends — aren’t the only obstacles the LAFD is facing. In June, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed an adopted $12.8 billion budget that cut the fire department’s funding by more than $17.5 million, or around 2 percent of the previous year’s budget of $837 million. It was the second-largest departmental operating cut to come out of the city’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget, which shaved funding from the majority of city departments — but not the police. The Los Angeles Police Department received a funding bump of nearly $126 million. The LAFD makes up about 6 percent of the city’s expense budget; the LAPD receives 15 percent of the funds. “What is currently happening and unfolding is what we have been warning about,” said Ricci Sergienko, a lawyer and organizer with People’s City Council LA. “The consistent defunding of other city programs in order to give the LAPD billions a year has consequences, and these elected officials do actually have blood on their hands. The city is unprepared to handle this fire, and Los Angeles shouldn’t be in that position.”

[...]

Bass’s office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has publicly clashed with [City Controller Kenneth Mejia] over his criticism of the city budget. Last spring, after Mejia called the deductions to public services “short-sighted,” Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl dismissed the remarks as “theatrical exaggeration and doomsday projections.”  For many Angelenos, that doomsday is now here. The fires burning across the county are already the most destructive in modern LA history, forcing more than 80,000 evacuations with no signs of abating. Whole blocks in the Palisades are leveled. The Eaton fire is eating its way through Altadena, Pasadena and the surrounding communities, taking at least five lives so far.

[lokigodofaces]

Okay just wanted to say something real fast to any fellow Christians reading this. Within the past year there have been massive disasters in the two countries I hold dearly. Last April and May many parts Rio Grande do Sul, a southern state in Brazil was flooded. It was the worst flood in Brazil for a long time. I was not living in that state, I was living in the northeast so I never saw the floods. But this was a huge deal nationwide, every time I talked to anyone they would ask if I had heard of the floods, donations were being sent, and I was really touched by the support many gave the people who had lost everything in Rio Grande do Sul. I also have a close friend who is from Porto Alegre. Thankfully her family was safely rescued. But through her I heard lots of stories about how horrible it was.

And now in the US LA is on fire. It is absolutely horrible. I don't live in California, I'm not personally affected by the fires. But I have friends that live there too. And the US is shaken up about it in many ways. This is the talking point for many people today. And I've seen many generous people donating and volunteering. There has also been lots of criticism against the politicians that created circumstances which make fighting the fire more difficult (ie defunding the LAPD, LA mayor not even being there, etc) which does have a place in these conversations because those people need to be held accountable. But I have seen so many people support LA one way or another.

But unfortunately in both instances I saw some stuff from Christians that drives me insane.

Stop saying that people going through a natural disaster deserve it.

I heard similar things about both places. LA isn't known for being Christian. It's also seen as "richer," though that's not necessarily true. And as for Rio Grande do Sul, I can't be for certain because I've never been there but also I didn't live in Brazil for super long. But I got some some weird vibes about the relationship between the south and the northeast. The south is more prosperous I'm told and more white. The northeast is on the poorer end in Brazil I'm told and I'm told there's more blacks. Also I knew some people that worked online and did Zoom calls and they would initiate an accent from São Paulo or another more central state because they felt they weren't taken seriously when using their own accent. They also all said that the south had lots of rude people. And I'm told the northeast is more religious. Listen, I can't confirm any of this. Everyone I know from the south was super nice, but I've never been there. I'm just being told stuff. But regardless of what's true and isn't true there is definitely a cultural divide and some weird stuff because of it that is a little similar to how some people see California.

But because of these different problems people have with LA and Rio Grande do Sul, people have blamed the citizens or said they deserved it. Obviously Christians are not the only ones doing it, there is the political divide and that political/economic divide might be influencing religious beliefs. But I need y'all to start pondering on that for a bit and whether that's a very Christ-like thought or not. Also I'm going to start saying some doctrinal stuff, but I get that there's a million ways to be Christian. I'll try my best to be broad, but please don't nitpick over something small and try to understand the main idea.

First off, not every bad thing in the world is a punishment from God. The vast majority of bad things aren't. Sometimes we're victims of the actions of others or natural events because we live in an imperfect world. Things happen that we can't stop. But not because God is punishing them.

Second off, get off your high horse about your religion. Not everyone is Christian, deal with it. And non-Christians deserve love and support just as much as Christians. If you don't like me saying that, boy do I have to tell you something about the gospels because Jesus was constantly being hated over the fact that he would interact with publicans and sinners and Gentiles and Samaritans. We're taught to love and support everyone. So start doing that.

Third, stop trying to frame it as being political and anti-rich people. First off house prices have gone up so much in LA that those people just bought them when they weren't costing an arm and a leg. Second off doctors aren't the problem. People that got a good job and do well aren't the problem. Stop trying to reframe your weird hate towards moderately successful people as religious and/or political when that isn't helping anyone.

Fourth, I'm gonna remind you of John 13:34-35 (KJV):

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Stop with the condemnations, stop with the moral loftiness, because Jesus said it himself: the way to show you truly are his follower is by loving others.

Look, I dunno why I'm saying this. This is Tumblr, the Christians on here probably aren't doing this since we probably have like queer tolerant Christians here. I think I just had to get it off my chest. But I'm tired of hearing Christians victim blame during natural disasters. It isn't your place to do that. As the verses above say, your duty as a Christian is to love others. So that's what you should be doing, not condemning people who have lost everything. So, yeah, in guessing many of you are doing great! But please try to help others understand this!

[brokenteethphotography]

Something’s gotta Give

[etchofsqetch]

I’m not going to say I’ve seen them all; but I’ve seen most of the good shows on TV concerning investigations and that sort of thing. I should preface this by saying that I think all cop shows are lame at first; you’re not supposed to like the show, you’re supposed to fall in love with the characters. A really good plot line; however, (Criminal Minds) definitely helps put the nail in the coffin for a really good show, and I don’t know about you; but when the characters’ lives mesh with the plot line and the danger is real, (or new,) it makes the show that much more exciting. At least to me it does, I’m sure someone somewhere hated Criminal Minds, I was disgusted when I saw it on television after work one day, and denied being the one to have put it on before I left; but the facts easily overwhelmed me and I gave it a shot. So why on earth would LAPD be so over the top generic that it made me call out in anger over the fact that it sucked so bad to “watch something else” and cry out in my half awake state of sleepiness; the truth!

Out of all the cop drama tv shows on television reppin their city, why is Los Angeles the most clichée, generic, and annoying of the genre ?? One would think that as the epicenter of media entertainment in basically the world, the greater Los Angeles area should boast the best “cop show” of them all. There are actually too many reasons this could be, to really start guessing; but, the question which always seems to irritate me is the one laying 50% below the surface.. was it intentional?

The reasons for the obvious are simple and quick to go through, for example: the target audience is larger in families with younger children who watch after the nine to five rush, and therefore LAPD is quite sanitary looking in terms of explosions and gore making it not only child friendly but as pseudo-realistic as possible, ie. “Hollywood got money bro!” Which we all know is only true because of skill and not actual purchasing power; but I digress. The audio is obviously meant for those who are in a happy mood and have no mind, (did that come out how I meant it to come out? God they’re gonna kill me for thinking soon enough.. ugh,) sitting at home clapping their hands like at the ballgame waiting for the commercials to end. While this may paint the picturesque picture of what families look like On the silver screen, we can’t actually be sure it’s the media’s agenda to turn the average civilian family into puppets.. or can we? And lastly I’ll just throw in the fact that my other complaint was please watch something that doesn’t invlolve the use of the words “you’re going to jail” so many different and clever ways, when I have court on Thursday for a misdemeanor, thank you.

So maybe I didn’t give it enough time?

The more interesting aspect now plays out now that I get that garbage out of my head and start thinking.. say it is intentionally that bad, we have a more recent pressing issue that isn’t quite one hundred percent taken care of, and of course Hollywood is on the side of the BLM and Defund the police movement. I mean they are aren’t they, why wouldn’t they be? So then of course they would make their cops look cheesy in the face of the public, right?

Too simple.

There has to be more substance than that to something this deep. It doesn’t even sound like a good cover for trying to do the movement a justice. As easily as I dismissed it, is as easily as most should; which is why you can safely hold on to it and file it away until we return.

All BLM aside, in order to really support a movement, you have to make it seem like it’s a silly suggestion in order to really get your point across. “BLM? nah man of course we support that, that’s crazy you would even suggest such a thing..” but under the surface he looks calm and ready.. (‘sorry’)

The next thing I do is try to get into the hypotheticals; because I obviously lost them after that second half of edible I just ate and need to actually try to use my brain now. Or maybe I’m just overthinking it at that point right? Remind me not to write when I’m stoned.

The whole reason I started this post was because there have been a few lame attempts to make cops look badass in a realistic way. And I say lame; because they’re simply missing that production quality we’ve come to know and love. I’m only thinking of two anyways, Cops, obviously.. lame because it looked underbudget; but is basically a cult classic at this point, which is always impressive. Superjail; lame because, like all shows on Atlantean networks they tend to be purposefully over the top, (thank you🙏) and therefore written for minorities in cults and not an every home staple. (I’m thinking specifically adult swim at this point and not the entire Cartoon Network, btw.. but for real though, adults are a minority, lol!)

I don’t fancy myself a writer or anything; but if I were to put my finger on what’s missing, I’d have to say that’s a show that shows the truth without the hassle, and still puts that spin on some bad ass characters. Immediately I think Oakland’s Finest. Now that’s a show I’d watch. There’re two types of cops in Oakland, of course the rookies and the bullies; but give them attitudes and styles from other parts of the country and I think we’ve got something fierce. (Again, that needs explaining I’m not sure I can do all at once..)

If you’re not familiar with at least Oakland PD, Tampa PD, and Sherrif Joe Arpaio, then I will try my hardest to explain real quick without dumbing it down for the five people who read my posts; but, I’m thinking that cops are seen as badass in television shows because they do badass shit and beat up bad guys. Any show that tries to make office work and paper pushing look “bad” “ass” just ends up with another comedy that no one will take seriously as a “Cop” “Show”.. (Brooklyn Nine Nine?) there’s still plenty missing I’ve noticed, and the first part I think of; is beat work, the insane amount of time not working that’s still considered police work. That’s the part of f the job that makes a cop truly look bad ass: how they behave when they are not working. It’s when you see how an officer sits in his vehicle when he drives or rides shotgun, that truly defines his or her character, and isn’t that the entire point of the job, to have integrity in the face of adversity?

I’ve received my fair share of ass kickings by police officers. That’s what I want to see. Where is the video of me getting pepper sprayed?

I’m not talking about when cops are off duty either; but, if you’ve ever been arrested, you know that there’s a process: cuff suspect and place in car, make sure all conversations leading to arrest are documented, drive to check in spot, take suspect to jail. I’ve gone straight to jail one or two times and I don’t know if it’s just me; or what.. but cops are easy to talk to, and even if you don’t say anything, they don’t seem to give a shit what You hear Them say. Now that’s bad ass, not the watered down version of what we see on tv now with shows that mimic Hawaii Five-0. (I only use that one as a reference; because, it’s probably the only show that really has boasting rights to be so family oriented as a law enforcement show, and if you don’t believe me, try to live on Maui, or Hawaii for more than a month.)

So a cop show about dudes with badges being dicks and beating up civilians?

Now can you see why I’m thinking the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movement? My show would actually get the attention of the masses, and they’d watch it. Not only that, I loves our boys, so I wouldn’t try to make them look bad or mean, and let’s be real here, not gonna actually beat up civilians who don’t deserve it; but I’d like to tip that edge of comedy just a little darker to get it to be.. oh gosh, for lack of better words, actually “bad” “ass”

Tip that edge of comedy that seems to creep in on average sitcoms, and make the show darker. Less about the actual crimes committed and having to solve them; more emphasis on the actualities of modern police work, without the realities of the classics making the show seem less of a show, and making it seem like more of an adventure. The point is to be something new, to make it seem like there’s more to the job; because there is. To make that hidden and boring aspect, seem fulfilling and eventful. (Gosh, I wish there was a show that made my job feel like that.) so where would I start?

Start on two officers beating up a white guy and going to jail. They are partners and no one was killed but the laws are way more strict because of the movement. Officers will always get special privileges dude to the judicial system, so they are fast tracked to prison and of course stay together, damn has anyone been? I’ve got a lot of material to draw on.. too much to start here..

[sadieawesome]

Meanwhile, LA's City council defunded the fire department in order to allocate more to the lapd:

Cops are that top line, fire department is the second up from the bottom.

A bunny rabbit darts toward a burning home on January 7, 2025 in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California.

Over 30,000 were ordered to evacuate in Southern California areas as Santa Ana winds swept through the region. The high population, drought conditions, abundant fuel, and mountain wind strength have created a high-fire danger environment that has the potential to spread.

Credit Image

[radicalurbanista]

twitter thread

August 9, 2022. Los Angeles

LA City Council deploys riot police at a public meeting to criminalize sitting and sleeping near a school and to fund police to enforce the measure.