username wrote:I'd like some more background on this, because I get the feeling we're missing a lot of the context. Apparently members of congress at least, and I would suspect quite possibly some of their aides don't have to go thru the metal detectors. Which means at least something more than 400, and maybe a thousand people are exempt. They're supposed to wear those little pins. Unlike George Bush, who probably has an aide whose sole duty is to transfer that little flag pin to the suit he's going to wear today, probably at least 300 of them on any given day don't bother to transfer their own little pin to today's suit (unless they just wear yesterday's suit and shirt), and I'll bet every one of them imperiously sweeps around the detectors and expects to be recognized--it is continuously borne in upon us in every day's news how jealously they guard their perks and expect them as a consequence of their existence.
In other words, she was probably doing exactly the same thing most of her fellow reps do.
Except it appears most of her fellow reps don't strike the Capitol Hill Police when and if they are stopped and asked for identification. Unless you have some information the rest of us are not privy to.
Quote:And notice that the guard grabbed her (which I think, without looking it back up, is exactly how the news accounts described it). Do we think that the guard is going to "grab" some imperious white guy who sweeps by him in his power suit? Or is he going to say "excuse me, sir" to that guy?
Are you asking our opinion on what the security officer would do in that situation? If he's doing his job he better grab the white guy who tries to get by the metal detector without showing proper identification. You clearly have bought into this claim that she was only stopped because she's black, even though there is absolutely no evidence that is the case.
Quote:A cell phone is not exactly an assault weapon, and if someone grabs you when you think you're doing what you have every right to do, you're probably going to push that arm off.
If a law enforcement officer tells you to stop, and you don't, and that LEO grabs you, you have committed the crime of battery if you strike that LEO. You might try to claim "mistake" as a defense, if you're willing to claim you did not know it was a LEO, or if you didn't hear the command to stop (these are the facts revel is claiming we don't know yet), but those are weak defenses at best.
And nobody is claiming a cell phone is an "assault weapon," but a battery can be caused by your pinky finger.
Quote:Was she an imperious jerk to a degree? Probably so. But was she doing exactly what most of her colleagues probably do and don't get stopped doing it? Again, probably so. Is that differential treatment? Probably so.
Again, you have no evidence to support this claim. Does it reflect reality? You have no idea. It's merely your imagination working overtime.
