A "thank you" but also some thoughts that I'm sure will be unpopular.

First off, thanks to the OT for reporting the Sterling incident and for updates on planned protests. My family and I traveled through BR last week, and left a day early to be sure we were through the city before protests started on Friday.

In fact, the shootings in Dallas were taking place while we were driving through BR. Also found out about that here on OT and was stunned to say the least. I began reading the reports about the time we reached Denham.

Which leads to what I'm sure will be unpopular opinions on here, but I hope it will find open minds and perhaps cause a few to think more critically.

I'm devastated by what happened in Dallas. But I'm also outraged at the level of police brutality in our nation. Sterling did not deserve to be murdered and those cops acted as judge, jury and executioner. Cops in Dallas also were senselessly murdered.

A person can support cops while at the same time calling for more accountability and demanding better treatment of US citizens. No matter the race, no matter the background.

I also think most of these arrests of protesters are largely manufactured by the cops and are not at all legit. Videos show cops pushing citizens and even causing them to be in the street. The same streets cops are already standing in. That's a BS arrest, even though it may be allowed due to overly restrictive and too zealously enforced laws. People have a constitutional right to peacefully assemble and protest.

I feel certain the tone of the OT would be different if people gathered to protest removal of the statues in NOLA and were arrested after being pushed into the streets.

Hell of a lot of you praising these cops for their bullshite arrests, will be complaining about those same cops the next time a DWI Checkpoint thread is posted. And I agree with those complaints, btw. DWI checkpoints should be unconstitutional.