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CARESS HAIR, HUG HUG
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One BANG for every Black person killed by the Dallas police from 1973 to 2016, one BANG for Botham Jean, one CARESS HAIR and two HUGs for Officer Amber Guyger, Botham Jean’s killer (and the first Dallas officer to be convicted of murder since at least 1973), and then one BANG for Joshua Brown, who testified against Guyger.
– Abagond, 2019.
See also:
- Botham Jean
- Joshua Brown
- Amber Guyger
- Micah Xavier Johnson – a rant in 500 words or less
- Negro forgiveness
I’m not a poetry fan unless they are obscene limericks, but I like this one it is succinct and to the point!
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Ugh, the “hugs” smh
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This is frightening, I read that during the Ferguson riots there were people who ended up dead. I wonder if the Dallas Police had something to do with this? I can now see the city exploding with a riot now.
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Your evidence that the witness was killed by the police is:?
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Your evidence to the contrary is?
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@ Abagond
Can you add the caress from the silly deputy to your poem? Her actions were just as sickening.
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In the absence of evidence we are free to make up stories? Ok, now what? Panic: “Mary Burrell This is frightening, I read that during the Ferguson riots there were people who ended up dead.”
Demand an inquiry into his death and others free of police tricks led by citizens. Enough civil rights and civil liberty organizations exist to undertake such task. Use of freedom of information laws seem in order.
What are you proposing?
I’m getting vibes that you’re still mad at me for exposing Jefe as a fraud, say it ain’t so?
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@ gro jo
I have no proof. And there probably never will be any proof, especially if the FBI does not step in. And maybe not even then.
I suspect the police because it is way too much of a coincidence. Also, Brown had no known enemies and he was shot in the mouth. The mouth. One witness was already in hiding – Ronnie “Bunny” Babbs. That is what made me fear for Joshua Brown BEFORE he was killed. And if she turns up dead then, yes, I will think the police were behind that too.
Anything is possible, of course. But based on what I know now I would say there is a:
90% chance the police are behind it (presumably a hit man pulled the trigger),
7% chance it was some pro-police or White supremacist nutcase, and a
3% chance it was someone else.
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@ Afrofem
Added.
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Abagond, I know you have no proof. My concern is why you chose to speculate and frighten Mary Burrell. You expect the police, yes, the FBI is also the police, to investigate themselves!? You are manifesting the same symptom as the judge and Brandt Jean. You should be calling for an inquiry free from police influence, overt or covert. Why can’t the mayor, city council and civil rights and liberty organizations undertake such investigation? Right, because they all serve to pacify the citizenry.
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What about the married cop partner Guyger was sexting with? He scrubbed some of the text messages? Isn’t that considered tampering with evidence? Botham Jean’s mother spoke about what she observed during the investigation, how body cameras had been turned off and how there was tampering of evidence. And she also called out the Dallas Police Department on how corrupt they are. The Dallas Police Department needs to recuse from this investigation. At least Bunny Babbs had the good sense to go into hiding. I don’t trust DPD.
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@ gro jo
I do not completely trust the FBI either. Which is why even they might not be able to clear the Dallas police in my mind, as I said elsewhere. They do have some independence from the Dallas power structure, but they are also under Trump and William Barr. And they are police by profession and sympathy. So yeah, not holding my breath. We might not know the truth for another 30 years, if ever.
I want to have an open mind, but right now it looks bad, worse than the original crime.
Mary Burrell is not a child and understands Dallas better than I do.
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@Grojo
My concern is things going left and people losing their minds here in the city, and rioting.
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@ Mary
One of the BANGs in the poem belongs to her lover, Martin Rivera. He definitely should be a suspect.
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Anyone who suddenly had/has his charges dropped by the Dallas police should also be a suspect.
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And anyone the Dallas police kill going forward should also be suspected.
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DEMAND AN INQUIRY FREE OF POLICE INFLUENCE. YOU CLAIM TO LIVE IN A DEMOCRACY, ACT LIKE IT.
I’m shouting because nobody wants to talk about taking these things out of the hands of the police. Why?
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@ Abagond
Thanks!
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“…civil rights and civil liberty organizations exist to undertake such task. Use of freedom of information laws seem in order.”
If the USA were still a functioning democracy that would be an excellent idea. Some civil rights or civil liberty organization would pounce on the case right away. However, as things stand now, an inquiry free of police influence——in a police state—-is a ‘blue sky’ suggestion.
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“If the USA were still a functioning democracy that would be an excellent idea. Some civil rights or civil liberty organization would pounce on the case right away. However, as things stand now, an inquiry free of police influence——in a police state—-is a ‘blue sky’ suggestion.”
A perfect recipe for passivity. Exactly what a police state thrives on. I disagree with your assessment. The laws to get information are still valid, tons of sophisticated researchers can be had for money and/or love. unfortunately, we live in a culture where whining is the favorite pastime. Get on a blog, say everything is going to hell, collect your “likes” and repeat for the next occasion. Truth doesn’t matter since one opinion is “as good as the next”. This is nonsense.
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“…we live in a culture where whining is the favorite pastime.”
Actually we live in a culture where the favorite pastime is people sitting a keyboard writing in all caps, “WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING” or “WE SHOULD DEMAND THIS OR THAT” on a blog (or twitter or facebook, etc.), while doing nothing substantive themselves.
The gulf between saying/writing about “doing something” and taking action is vast. That gulf can contain islands of sharing ideas (aka ‘speculation’), comparing notes, facing fears and gathering the courage to to act.
True passivity is avoiding mentioning the events where state actors act like gangsters. True passivity is escaping into netflix binge-watching, drinking, drugs, sexual escapades or extreme sports——anything to avoid facing reality.
Getting to the point of ‘doing something’ or ‘demanding something’ is a process which starts with getting more information, focussing well founded anger and dealing with fear. Past movements had vanguards that prepared for years before they made their first move. Even shortlived (and ineffectual) movements like BLM had intellectual authors long before the first street protest.
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Did I see the word democracy?
In truth, we live in a totalitarian dystopia. However, absent the seemingly isolated stark events (like this), we are likely to forget because of its ubiquity and its default mode of operation. Though there are aspects of the surveillance state and doublespeak, in the West, it is not so blatantly Orwellian (Eastern European or Chinese Communist Party “socialism” has more of 1984’s flavor). However, I’d say that our day-to-day lives reveal some elements of the kind of dystopia imagined by Huxley in “Brave New World”. Basically, we have been conditioned to accept our state and are provided with many stimulating distractions so that the absurdities and indignities of existence within the system are no longer felt as abnormal.
Let’s take, for example, something as routine as income taxes. Most people work for their money and pay taxes on pain of imprisonment in one of the many gulags that dot the Land of the Free. At a 30% tax rate, that is equivalent to working for free from January to May each year if withholding were front-loaded. This is completely unfair but it’s something we have been conditioned and coerced to accept. It is normal.
Furthermore the putative benefit of taxation within a capitalist system (to socialize some of the wealth of the uber-rich) is undermined by their superior ability to evade taxes through sophisticated accounting and even lobbying for favorable laws. The IRS openly acknowledges that it audits more poor people because it doesn’t have enough resources to target the affluent.
https://www.propublica.org/article/irs-sorry-but-its-just-easier-and-cheaper-to-audit-the-poor
However, while YOU have to work and are treated like a criminal if you don’t pay the government what is “owed”, banks are able to lend money in excess of their deposits thanks to fractional reserve banking. This is tantamount to creating money. Additionally, they demand constantly compounding interest from borrowers as compensation. So when the bank conjures money to pay for your house and you end up with a mortgage, the interest you pay is profit for the bank, Furthermore if they have reason to foreclose on you, they get the real asset too! Yet if they are so greedy in this system of normalized usury that they become insolvent, money collected from tax payers (or even confiscated deposits) will bail them out.
Which brings me to the point that democracy and the economic system are incompatible unless “democracy” is an impotent “rhetorical ethic”. Capitalism results in consolidation of money and therefore consolidation of power in a system in which everything can be bought (including politicians). Since the masses are successfully being exploited to benefit the few, it is empirically clear that democracy is unsuccessful at asserting “people power”. In fact, it is TRUE “people power” that is feared. Practically, the rituals of voting function as an official escape valve for majority frustrations which the PTB know how to manipulate and circumvent. In other words, “democracy” helps prevent revolution – whether violent or peaceful – and therefore serves the system and its perpetuation.
I’d say that a lot of the history of black struggle in America has been about forcing the country to live up to its purely rhetorical ethics. The culture was always resistant to this and fought back. MLK was asking for nothing but what the constitution already claimed to guarantee yet he was assassinated. Similarly, police are technically not above the law, but we’re being reminded, through the terroristic assassination of Joshua Brown, that they are (or should be) in practice. IMO, black people should learn to “unlove” this dystopia despite its stimulating distractions. If we don’t we won’t know when to rejoice; instead, we’ll waste tears of sorrow at its deathbed.
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“Did I see the word democracy?” Not from me. I wrote: “…You CLAIM to live in a democracy, act like it.”
“Actually we live in a culture where the favorite pastime is people sitting a keyboard writing in all caps, “WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING” or “WE SHOULD DEMAND THIS OR THAT” on a blog (or twitter or facebook, etc.), while doing nothing substantive themselves.” I provided ideas above that you didn’t like, let’s hear yours.
“True passivity is avoiding mentioning the events where state actors act like gangsters.” Such as?
“Getting to the point of ‘doing something’ or ‘demanding something’ is a process which starts with getting more information, focussing well founded anger and dealing with fear.” That’s what my comments tried to do. When you wrote a lot of uninformed nonsense in defense of Jefe, I patiently provided you with facts that you have rejected out of sheer narcissism. You know everything worth knowing, apparently.
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“You know everything worth knowing, apparently.”
If that were true, my dear gro jo, I would cease being aware of my own ignorance. I would give up my lifelong quest for more knowledge and wisdom. I would stop thinking of learning as an adventure and see it as futility. If only….
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@ Origin
“In truth, we live in a totalitarian dystopia.”
Well said.
More and more, life in this country resembles the story lines of the myriad science fiction novels I devoured in my teens and twenties: unceasing surveillance, intrusive advertising, ‘security theater’ and vapid entertainment designed to dumb down and inject fear into the population. And yet, people still go on about “our democracy” out of sheer habit.
“…black people should learn to “unlove” this dystopia despite its stimulating distractions. If we don’t we won’t know when to rejoice; instead, we’ll waste tears of sorrow at its deathbed.”
So true.
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@Afrofem
“And yet, people still go on about “our democracy” out of sheer habit.”
Yeah, I think it could be successfully argued that big capital defeated any potential power democracy may have wielded a while ago. At this point the state merely exists to ensure that “the market” has free reign. It’s money’s military.
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It seems to me that few if any of us here are the stakeholders who can get the ball rolling for an independent investigation by those civil rights organizations or by the mayor and city council of Dallas.
The impetus needs to come from the families involved and the local community groups there in Texas.
Those of us in other states (or countries) could signal our support in a number of ways, but there is only so much we can do at the moment — unless anyone here just happens to be on the national board of one of these civil liberties organizations.
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Abagond mentioned above that one of the “bangs” belongs to Guyger’s police partner and lover.
I hadn’t heard about this, so I found the following article about the young man he shot back in 2007 — because of a candy bar, FFS!
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2019/09/25/local-activists-call-for-re-investigating-fatal-shooting-involving-amber-guyger-s-former-police-partner/
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What’s part 2 say?
2nd stanza if you will
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It is being reported by ABC affiliate WFAA 8 that Kendall Deshonn Morris shot and killed Nicholas Diggs during a fight in November of 2018. Joshua Brown was a friend of Diggs. During the incident, Joshua was shot in the foot by Kendall.
For reasons unknown at this time, Kendall was released on bond. In my opinion, whoever was the Judge that released Kendall, in a twist of fate, is also responsible for Joshua Brown’s death to a certain extent, including the judicial system as well, if that’s what people want to refer to this joke of a system as being. (smh)
On Sunday, Merritt acknowledged that the 2018 shooting made Brown nervous to testify. “He was concerned that someone would try and come finish the job,” Merritt said.
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/crime/man-shot-at-atera-apartment-complex-police-say/287-8c56d592-b182-4b74-add3-366898588010
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I exist to dominate poetically; usc taught me so. Then usf.
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Sf state is better
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@abagond the writing, right? Imagine abagond if you will if you could freestyle you know it must be a lyrical existence
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Some zen ish if ya ask me but they dont
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@Afrofem
Good for noticing this. I do look at the situation in the US to try to understand what is happening in HK.
Knowing what the US is like makes me take the final acknowledgement that the situation where HK has turned into an even worse direction yields a very dire prospect. I know there is no pie in the sky utopia if I went back to the US, but now I am faced with dismal prospects to consider. US is starting to look like the lesser evil.
People in HK have certainly not been passive. It takes effort to stay at the top of international headlines week after week,month after month, something which the local and national authorities wish could somehow be turned off. How many people overseas know about this Dallas police incident? I asked a few of my friends and none have heard of it. Didn’t make any headline here (although maybe I could find something about it on a back page somewhere).
The basic “demand” from the people in HK since this bout of protest was an independent inquiry into the situation FREE of police influence. Poll after poll for the past 4 months have consistently shown 85-90% support for this action, even the majority of those who support the police. However, that has been categorically refused by the government.
What’s left?
Civil society (eg, civil rights NGOs, etc.)?
As someone who help to found an NGO in 2007 and joined the board of another one since June this year, I have collaborated with other NGOs and NGO coalitions and although I focus on environmental issues, I have worked with some of the NGOs on human rights focused ones in certain initiatives. I can tell you that prior to 2012, there was some limited engagement with civil society here, albeit flawed and controlled. However, there has been a very severe contraction of civil society engagement since about 2012 and now it is pretty much useless now. I think this explains a large part of the reason that many of the local NGOs have migrated to appealing to foreign consulates and even foreign parliamentarians to try to at least provoke a response from the government and to keep issues on the front page.
I am concerned mostly with the marine environment, and those issues have even slid back further given the recent trajectory of events. Just becomes a big sigh.
What else is left? The “free” press?
The press is hardly free. We have to pay for it. Or someone pays for it. The press in HK have not really been that helpful in resolving the issue. I would think that in the event that independent investigations free of police influence would not be undertaken, then perhaps independent journalists can do some investigations and let people know what happened at least (not that any justice will be served). And to their credit, they have done some of that. But the majority of press seems more bent on sensationalizing events to get more viewers, more clicks, more likes, more people willing to “pay” for things. We do get stuff from various ends of the spectrum, but they are there to sensationalize things,not to find solutions.
But the CCP has been relentless in their narrative. And theirs is paid for. They might not be able to transform the hearts and minds of 70% of the people in HK, but they can certainly do that overseas. The internal domestic population don’t see anything else, so they don’t know about any other perspective.
If you cannot transform hearts and minds, you try to beat them into submission. You silence their voices by shutting them up. Or you haul them up and take them off the streets and lock them up somewhere. Or you send them away for re-education. Or you kill them.
Hopefully, some will get fed up and leave so that you don’t have to worry about them either.
HK and US previously had what had been termed “flawed democracies”. US still has a flawed democracy. HK had one until a few years ago, but has definitely slipped into “hybrid regime” territory on the road to authoritarianism. US has slipped in many ways and has some increasing authoritarian aspects, but it is still vibrant in a few areas where HK is not. There is a more pluralistic political spectrum (although that spectrum is highly partisan) and civil society is still more active there. In fact, I have been impressed with the continued vibrancy in civil society in the US since the election of Trump. Mainstream press is definitely corporate sponsored, but I don’t think the squashing has been as severe as here.
But HK can appeal to foreign consulates and parliaments in a way that the US cannot. Will any foreign government have the interest or power to force an independent investigation in Dallas? 15% of HK’s population holds foreign passports. US companies employ 10% of the workforce (although mainland Chinese companies are likely higher now). There is definitely a stake that foreign governments have in HK especially if their citizens or employees get arbitrarily arrested. And in a search for international talent, who would want to come here if that threat is held over your head all the time?
As Origin said,
.
I have come to learn this. Democracy is not there to change the system. It is there to prevent revolution (and hence add a stabilizing element to the system). It can shift around a bit as long as the people in power basically stay that way and give people the illusion that they can make a difference. Under authoritarianism, we are told to shut up and just go shopping and if we are not happy with it, we can just escape “into netflix binge-watching, drinking, drugs, sexual escapades or extreme sports——anything to avoid facing reality” – just as you said.
Also, I think that engaging through civil society is more “healthy” than those other escape mechanisms, at least for your mind and body, that is, until they come after you for it or at least shut you down.
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Jefe, you shameless creature, don’t you think you owe Afrofem and other members of this blog an apology for lying to them about the role the CCP plays in HK? I know, you’ve told so many lies you can’t recall them anymore. Let me help you with that.
1) “…it is more a matter of the CCP trying to suck HK dry of its reserves and capital more than the other way around.”
How does the CCP ‘suck HK dry’ when the Basic Law governing Hong Kong states: ” Under Article 108 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the taxation system in Hong Kong is independent of, and different from, the taxation system in mainland China. In addition, under Article 106 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, Hong Kong enjoys independent public finance, and NO TAX REVENUE IS HANDED OVER TO THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN CHINA. Wikipedia”
2) “Even though Hong Kong’s share of the national GDP has fallen from almost 20% during the 1997 handover to just over 3% now, it still holds more foreign currency reserves than the rest of China and is still the largest source of foreign investment into the PRC.”
The truth: “China’s foreign exchange reserves rose by USD 3.5 billion to USD 3.107 trillion in August 2019, defying market expectations of a USD 4 billion fall to USD 3.100 trillion, as the country maintained a stable balance of international payments and generally stable economic growth. Foreign Exchange Reserves in Hong Kong decreased to 432800 USD Million in August from 448400 USD Million in July of 2019.” In Jefeland, 13.9%($0.4328 trillion/ $3.107 trillion) will always be greater than 100% ($3.107 trillion/$3.107 trillion)!
3) “Afrofem, After what you have read, it should be clear that this Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge is a prime example of ““hamfisted” interference by PRC in HK”.” Why did you fail to tell her about Gordon Wu, HK moneybags and the initiator of the bridge project? Have you finally overcome your disdain for the over ten million bus riders who have traveled on the bridge and joined them?
4) What do you and your pals plan to do for Mr. Tsang Chi-kin, the young ‘hero’ who thought his stick was mightier than a bullet? He now faces a stiff prison sentence and lifelong debilities from his wound.
5) I know, being loved, as you are on this blog, is never having to say you’re sorry, nonetheless I insist on holding you accountable to the basic norms of civilized conversation.
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Abagond, expect to hear from the estate of Sonny Bono due to possible copyright infringements between your poem and his 1966 hit song:
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).
😉
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@ gro jo
Revelance to this thread?
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As relevant as his comment was. Just trying to see how shameless he is. Not surprised you don’t demand he apologize for lying to you and led you away from the path of inerrancy. That’s of ‘love’ eh?
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@ jefe
“HK and US previously had what had been termed “flawed democracies”. US still has a flawed democracy.”
The USA has been a “flawed democracy” since it’s founding. It has been run by the same cabal of moneyed interests since 1789. Their grip on power was so tight that it took Andrew Jackson (the Donald Trump of his time) to extend a few democratic concessions to White men with no property. Everyone else, including White women, Free Black people, Indigenous Americans and the few Asian American residents were left out in the cold. We won’t mention the millons of African and Native slaves who were mere property, not even human beings.
I agree with Origin that the current political system in the USA is a “totalitarian dystopia”. It is glossy, sophisticated and so ubiquitous that most Americans are unaware of its day to day operation. As Origin observed:
One way this has been done is through hollowing out the laws, traditions and institutions that fired the inner workings of a functioning democratic republic. The Magna Carta and its insistence on habeous corpus, jury of peers and presumption of innocence has been trashed. The 6th Amendment (right to a sppedy trial, etc.) was thrown down a corporate well. The 4th Estate (the media) was amputated and turned into a circus sideshow, where it dances around on its stumps for attention and then passes the hat.
The original three co-equal branches of government have become subservient to the Unitary Executive branch which openly takes its orders from a small group of oligarchs. In a way, Trump offers a glimmer of hope. He has been trashing things in plain view, too stupid to do what other presidents did behind closed doors. He exposes the corruption of the system that former President Sly, Slick and Wicked hid with a broad grin and soaring speeches.
Things will not change until a critical mass of people see the system with clear eyes. As long as people are transfixed by the many “stimulating distractions” the system conjures up, nothing will change.
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Correction: speedy trial.
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Watching the local afternoon news and it’s been reported that Lamar Street, the street where the apartment building that Botham Jean and Amber Guyger lived is being considered to be renamed after Botham Jean. The Dallas Police Department is located down the street. This is such a terrible idea.
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Correction: Habeas corpus
Writing in haste, correcting in leisure. Crikey!
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