The police acted stupidly, arresting a homeowner, at his house, no doubt. That there is a debate is

[ShamelessHussy]

a sign of the times we live in... a bad one.

That the President called them out, is another one... a good one!

Thank you President Obama :toast:

[BlooInBloo]

1. Yep. The trained guy. The guy with all the power. The guy with the gun...

The guy with the authority to USE the gun. Screwed the pooch.

Oh, and the little old man was tumultuous.

[Evergreen Emerald]

2. not that simple.

The conversation is one we should have.

What constitutes racial profiling? When is an officer supposed to ask for ID?

Is berating by the guy whose home he is trying to protect, part of the officer's job? At what point is it ok to yell at police? How should the police handle it?

When should we cooperate with police?

If there is concern that the house is a crime scene should the officers act differently if the potential intruder is white or black? Do officers act differently?


Are there political motivations at play by Gates or the officer?

[ShamelessHussy]

4. I am not even considering race.

Though that is certainly another issue of concern.

And, no, arresting someone for being upset is another, bad, sign of the times.

Once it was established that he was the home owner the cop had no further business at the scene except to harass and detain a law abiding, and highly respected citizen.

That is a very bad sign of the times, imo.

[Hello_Kitty]

6. This Slate article answers some of your questions

http://www.slate.com/id/2223379/

[N7255Q]

3. They BOTH acted like juvenile pricks. Meanwhile TWO MORE soldiers were killed today in

Afghanistan and nobody gives a fuck about that...everything revolves around an unknown professor who had a chip on his shoulder and a way more unknown cop who had one too.
Good god, I can't even believe this shit is continuing to dominate the M$M let alone DU.

[HardWorkingDem]

5. A big Hear, Hear to you....you are absolutely correcct...

Good point....

[N7255Q]

10. This Gates guy, who not 1 in a million ever heard of claims to be a 'friend' of the President.

It looks to me like he approached a dicey situation in the exact same way people often do when they have a passing acquaintence with the Chief of Police and figure it's a good time to assert their special status to the poor schlub cop who's in the middle. "I know the Chief and I'll have your badge, pig!!!" That kind of thing.
Both of them got caught up in the one-upmanship and wouldn't back down. They are both VERY lucky it didn't end with one or both of them injured or dead.

[FiveGoodMen]

15. I've heard of him. If 300 other Americans have, then you're wrong.

[N7255Q]

17. Name the other 300.

I will wait.

[FiveGoodMen]

18. Maybe that works at your regular site.

[N7255Q]

20. Smirkingchimp?

Yeah, fairly well.

[Mugu]

16. I'm going to guess that the professor had had a long, tiring day,

and to top it off was frustrated by a door that wouldn't open. Who knows what kind of day the officer was having, but I'm going to guess that it didn't involve anybody that was happy to see him.

They're probably both a couple of decent fellas that through a series of events outside their control ended up nose to nose and weren't fortunate enough to have somebody that was able to get between them for just a couple of moments so some sanity could return to the situation. If all the outsiders hadn't gotten into it I wouldn't be surprised that if after a night to sleep on it they could have been more reasonable and reached a mutually satisfactory agreement, gone their separate ways, and forgotten about it.

[N7255Q]

19. We will never know all the details with any accuracy. Selective memory is at play on both sides

and is reinforced by the normal human reluctance to admit error. I'm willing to bet that in a day or 2 both of those guys will publicly admit to have acted like asses.

[ShamelessHussy]

7. COP OUT

Sorry, but that a homeowner can be arrested after providing proof he is the owner is whacked.

And WTF, Vietna... er, I mean Afghanistan, has nothing to do with this 'Walter'.

[N7255Q]

8. The lack of coverage of Vietna...er, Afghanistan is the fucking POINT.

Try 1-800-ABCDEFG

[redqueen]

9. 'Walter'... lol. (nt)

[N7255Q]

11. As in Mondale?

:wtf:

[redqueen]

12. As in Sobchak...

least that's how I read it.

[N7255Q]

13. Oh, someone even more obscure than Gates.

I see.

[redqueen]

14. I think there are more people familiar with the name Walter Sobchak

than there are people familiar with Gates.

:shrug:

[ShamelessHussy]

21. "I can get you a toe, dude..."

:hi: