Had drinks with a liberal friend -- I'm shocked but I shouldn't be [long]

Very long and "dear facebook" and all, but TL;DR: Liberals are fine throwing out Due Process for others when it suits their ignorant opinions, but they don't want that same standard to apply to themselves.

Here's the long version if you want:

Over the weekend I had drinks with a liberal friend who lives in ATL. He was in town for the weekend so we decided to catch up. It's been a few years since we've seen each other, and I remember him being one of the "good" liberals (i.e., not a leftist, very moderate). He's an old college friend and a CPA now -- quite accomplished, to be honest.

The conversation was going well and then it shifted to the Brooks shooting in ATL and the broader unrest we see happening around the country. This is where things went south. Here are some takeaways:

1) He buys fully into the "police are killing black people" narrative. I bring up the Federal crime statistics that don't bear that out. He doesn't care to hear it. He "hears stories" about police brutality happening all over ATL against minorities.

2) He claims after seeing the video that the police officer was obviously guilty of murder. I asked him if he was aware of the GA Law or the APD protocols for escalation of use of force. He says that he's not. So I ask him how then is he so certain the officer is guilty of murder if he doesn't know how the law or APD defines it? He digs in and says he saw the video and he has morals.

3) I say the cop is owed due process and the investigation will reveal the facts and the ATL mayor was wrong to knee-jerk terminate him. He says she did it to "prevent more unrest" and that it was absolutely the right thing to do because the cop is guilty of murder. I ask him why it was necessary to terminate instead of suspend while the investigation unfolds -- he said there will be no exculpatory evidence uncovered for this officer. I pushed back and said you obviously can't say that with any degree of certainty because you've already admitted you don't know the law. He said he's fine with the immediate termination.

4) I ask him if he views a taser as a deadly weapon. He says "absolutely not." So then I ask why the Fulton County DA charged two officers in early June for assault with a deadly weapon for pointing the same taser at protesters, and yet now that very same DA is saying the taser Brooks fired at the officer is not a deadly weapon. He said it's different because Brooks died.

5) I asked him how certain he was the officer is guilty of unjustified homicide, and he said 75% sure. I ask him if at that percentage certainty if he's comfortable convicting that officer of murder and he says yes. (because he saw the video). I ask him if he wants due process to be carried out for the officer and he said it won't matter, nothing will come out that makes this shooting justified. So I ask him since he's advocating throwing out due process for this officer, if he would be comfortable being personally charged for murder with 75% confidence and no due process. He said no, because he'd never murder someone like the officer did.

6) I asked him if we are to accept his narrative that police in ATL are hunting down black people, then ultimately who is responsible? He said the police. I asked him who is responsible for the police and he said the police chief. I asked him who the police chief is responsible to, and he said the Mayor. So I then asked which ATL Mayor is responsible for allowing rampant racism to permeate the APD: the current one, or the previous 100 years or so of ATL Democrat Mayors? He finished his drink and asked for his bill.


I'm floored but I guess I shouldn't be. This guy used to be moderate and reasonable -- I was pretty disgusted with him. He said right before we left that I was wrong to support the cop. I fired back that he was ignorant if he thought my staunch defense of due process was an exonerating testimonial for the officer. Even though he pressed me, I never came out for or against the officer. I was critical of his firing by the Mayor, and the charges by the DA and supremely critical of his comfort in throwing out Due Process for the officer, but not himself.