Roter Baron

That's not the police acting like the "mob". That is the Islamic State with the exception that the Ferguson Police Department never came around beheading people in public and gives a flying bown thing about religion. But with a little de-schooling in the American Constitution and a few "Ataboys!" I am sure that quite the majority of these so called "officers of the law" would also do that to the citizens of Ferguson - of course only if they have "probable cause" which means in Ferguson: The victim is poor and black. Not necessarily in that order. Disgusting.

She looks like Batman's little sister dressed by the Joker to make Supes angry ... nah, I don't like theses "subdued" colors at all. I want bright colors.

TV cameras have no business in being at a police raid! This whole "reality" show bullshit has to go since it has nothing to do with getting the public involved or controlling the conduct of law-enforcement officers but everything with ratings and vouyerism and officers who are openly or matter-of-factly encouraged to "show" the audience how tough the job is and how they show the criminals the power of the law. In each instance good law-enforcement goes out of the window! Disgusting! And an invasion of the privacy of citizens who are at least to be given the doubt if they are perps or not before their faces are on every screen in the nation.

My dream comes finaly true. Dumbass Supers slugging it out in the open streets!

Yes, pull a Savage White Wolf out of the hat and force people into playing in that world and setting! Rock them with ideas that no one else can transport in such a way, thrill them with the adventures. That#s the way to get them to HERO (then they have no other way ....)

Interesting article. And I can agree to the staement that playing roleplaying games is good for your education and eventually for your career as well: In my group we are two teachers (I am head of a departmnet of my school, the other is training other teachers), one is a judge and all have quite a good command of a foreign language (English) becaus emost of the games we play are not translated. Same is true when I enter my local gaming store: Lots of people holding degrees of one or the other kind. I disagree that HERO works best with Fantasy though. I alsway considered it CHAMPIONS first and modern pulpish adventures second. But the second edition of Fantasy Hero (for Hero 4th edeition) was the best a approachable edition ever published of it because there was all you needed (except the core rules): Spells, monsters, a world, an adventure (or two if you like). A new edition should not only give me the shorted core rules, it should be like Lucha Libre Hero: A self-contained set of rules including a fantasy world (or part of it) and at least one adventure to set you off.

Is something wrong with Florida's drinking water? Is the sun too hot there? Or are you only allowed to live there if you have a licenses as a village idiot?

Seeing and reading all this really makes you (in this case: Me a foreigner) think about the percentage of goons in the US police-force ... Or is it as they used to say about New York City: The police is nothing but another gang ....

I am binary about this. Maybe the time to eat an APPLE. Or are you too MAC for it?

Fair enough.

@ The "Young Turks"-clip: First, yes - police who is not investigating crimes, that is not acceptable. But am I the only one who is reminded of "Sesame Street" when watching the clip: The guy and the gal keep repeating their argument over and over and over and then some more times AGAIN: "The cops are not doing their jobs! They are not doing their jobs! The cannot do their jobs not! I am outraged at theim not doing their jobs and they should be fired! They should be fired because they don't do their jobs! Did I mention that I am mad because the cops don't do their jobs? Because they don''t!" What is this show? Are the people who watch the show really mentally retarded or have the attention span of a gnat that the "hosts" (journalist they can't be!) have to repeat everything at least twice in each sentence and then the other has to say it again - for 6 minutes!?! A pain to watch (I got the fisrt 4 minutes then I had to close the video). But now I really know what the meaning of the word "redundant" is ... It seems to be a new style

Tell me all about it! I am about 180 cm (that's about 5'10''), my weight is about 93 kg (quite evenly distributed - still too much) and in the US I am feeling okay size-wise. HERE! Forget about it! All my friends are taller than I am, about a quarter of the 8th graders I teach are taller than I am and in Year 11 and 12 about a quarter to half of the girls are as tall as I am! Or taller. The boys - well lucky me if there is another "dwarf" that is as "short as poor, small Baron. Germay has a medium height for males at 180,4 cm - only the Dutch as a little taller (180,8). That is the whole adult population, including the oldtimers (my father is about 173 cm). That means that the male population of Germany in the age-group of 18 to 25 is probably beyond 185 (6'2"). And in the supermarket I regularly see women in the 6 feet plus category. I feel like a garden gnome sometimes ... Regarding the debit card "service": My reaction when I had to pay for speeding wasn't exactly "Gosh, that's mighty cool of you, Mr. Officer, sir!" - But I kept my mouth shut, smiled my sweetest smile and paid the waylaying b ... officer of the law only doing his duty to Volk and Vaterland.

Different times then - and Westberlin was different even then. The guys with the SMGs were most likely Bundesgrenzschutz (now: Federal Police) and was considered a paramilitary unit with combatant staus in times of war (a status that Federal Police does not have today). This Frank, though physically imposing (my neighbour is of the same size), seems to me like the example of a bad officer: It is not professional policing to throw people around in beer tents and buying lunch with fine money is fraud. So, here we have a German example of "Hey, I am hulking and strong. I used to bully my classmates for their lunch. Great! I become a cop and the fun will never stop!" The examples sound funny. But aren't. Today, by the way, police is not allowed to collect fines in cash - pay by debit card if you can. Otherwise, you get the fine by mail.

Actually the German system seems more like the one in the US. The difference is that the police is (with the exception of the Federal police, Bundespolizei - means excatly that) is organized by the Länder (states) of Germany. So, there is of course police in every city or Kreis (county) but it is funded by the Land, in my case Nordrhein-Westfalen. All police officers are employed by the Land they work in and are civil servants called Beamte - word by word it means "those with an office" = "officer", and are in the same level of employmentship as other civil servants. For instance, at leats in the Western states most teachers (such as I) are Beamte, too. All Beamte are virtually (if not convicted of a crime worth two or more years in prison) non-displacable - after two years of probation you are usually "in for life" if you don't want to quit. But if you quit or you are dismissed then getting back into any kind of official job is pratically impossible. So, being released from the force would mean for a cop: That's it for you with copping and policing! No other Land or offical bureau will hire you. Same for any other job (teacher, fire-fighter etc.). There is no such thing as a University or College Police, Sheriff's Department etc. BTW for American visitor's: No "Miranda Rights" here! And if an officer asks you to identify yourself, you MUST do so! I was once asked to show my ID while I was waiting for the bus, about 300 meters away from my appartment in a neighbourhood in which I had lived for about 18 years.The reason: It was November, it was dark, there ha dbeen some burglaries in the area and I "looked suspicious", standing there at the corner - and as one cop told me: "We passed you in our cars like two times, we don't know you." - Yeah, and I was wearing jeans, a jeans jacket, my black Bundeswehr boots and a black wollen cap .... So, they made me show my ID and miss my bus. One girl that happened to be in one of my classes (about 17 at that time) was also made to identify herself. Well she got rather nervous since she had no ID-card with her and police has the right to detain you until they have proof of your ID. Since the Comprehensive School I workes in and she visited was on the same street, I could ID myself and she had a letter on her person, the cops let that pass ... The "Mysterious Bus Burglar" is still at large by the way ... My only "harrassment" by German police so far. (Okay, getting caught for speeding is also some kind of harrassment.)

@ The Rose: The guy lost (or let loose of) his job and as far as I remember the article the young lady is considering to press charges. That is what should happen if you choke somebody with no reason and you are a police officer. Looks okay to me, especially since we do not know what else is coming towards him. Nothing good, I presume. @ Agent X: Regarding the "Taunt and harass them till they react in a mildly physical way - THEN HIT' EM HARD and get away with it"-cops: What country and century is this this again? Alabama - the 1920s? Dodge City in th 1880s? No wonder people are increasingly irritated and react irate if behaviour like this is not, say, an everyday occurence but happens more than twice in any given community. per year. By the way: A lot of people have the understanding that Germany is quite extensively policed. In comparison to the USA: Far from it! If I am in Bochum, a neighboring city of about 350,000 (about the size of Pittsburgh) I usually NEVER see a police car. In Pittsburgh I run into police (city, University, Sheriff's Department, sometimes Highway Patrol) almost every third or second block. As much in a DAY as I see in a YEAR in Germany! Friends from the US noticed the absence of the omnipresent police force, too. And I still feel pretty save here. Actually, I only became the victim of a crime (a mugging) in Pittsburgh. And someone broke into my appartment to rob my landlady who lived upstairs. Oh, and I got into a drug raid once. On three different stays. And Pittsburgh is considered one of the safest cities in America. In Germany: ZILCH in 44 years. If you don't count car accidents (only vehicle damage - and always my fault).

Judging from the article and video that The Rose posted the training of a lot US police officers seem to consider of armed and unarmed techniques to get a person "down" (alive or dead) and of showing them a few Western and Dirty Harry movies for how and when to apply them - basically whenever you don't get the response you wanna hear or see when you ask a citizen: "Do you have a problem, pillgrim?" or "Do ya feel lucky, punk?" As I said before: Does not primarily seem to be a racist cop force but a Legion of Judge-Dredd-Wanna-Bes that are the root of the problem - and that root is lack of training and accountability and a sense of professionalism, and not spurs clinking and blinking on Main Street at High Nooon.

I consider Al Sharpton an scandal-chasing race-riot hunter. Sure, he isn't the cause of the incidents and he isn't the one who is inciting riots but he is basically "laying it out" so that things can happen or he is approving it. Hey, I can understand that people have to get violent to make society notice injustice. BUT: You have to see who is the enemy and who is not. If I see (mostly but not exclusively) black folks protesting angrily in the street because of the unjustified and unneccessary death of a black man making end smeet with selling cigarettes in a park in New York City I do understand their justifies outrage - they kept it peacefully. That was wise, good PR and tactics since nobody attacked them. Had the NY police attacked peaceful demonstrators and they had defended themselves that would have been totally justified IMO. But the people in Missouri whose idea of "Justive Now! seemed to be to plunder and loot the shops of the people in their own city who had ZERO to do with the killing there, not only did a good job at discrediting the protest (who is - thanks to people like Sharpton - quite aimless and one-side) but also showed the world what lumpen they really are. No, I do not feel sympathy with people who use each and any excuse to loot and shout about "justice" while robbing and stealing from their fellow man. And peopel like Al Sharpton play the tune to this kind of music. And for that I find him quite despicable, though the causes he involves himself in (is he invited? does he just pop up?) are often not. But his involvement always turns them away from the centre of the problem and towards his greedy, self-rightous self.

These prices for rental are NUTS! "Free" market my hairy commie behind!

I'll get it as soon as a print copy is available. I am a dead-tree-man and I want someting to have died for my amusement ... Yep, I am evil and never wore no chains ever - except when feeling kinky!

@ Sinanju: Thanks for the first-hand report about the garnd jury system: I had no idea (or quite a blurry one) of how that works. Seems quite 19th century to me, quite well for a close-living community where most people know each other and are fully aware of the circumstances and know the person about to being tried (at least like "Yes, it's the nephew of Old Widow Miller who used to work in Mr McPherson's store. Married Susan Maurer last year."). 21st century conditions are not really well addressed by this jury system, it seems.

Regarding the Michael Brown-Leroy Brown-parody-song: In a time where going to the toilet in the privacy of your own home has a good chance of being recorded by a) your spouse, your guest(s) or failing that c) yourself one can only admire the total braindeadness of the pensioned officer to sing something like that at an occasion like that in the times as they are without thining that the P U B L I C will react to it in a most unfavourable way. Or a lot if not most of the cops in L.A. really feel that way and don't think of it any more than telling dirty jokes at a stagg party. That would indeed tell you something about the sorry state US law-enforcement is in. If it makes you feel any better: The murders of immigrants and the robbing of banks by a trio of national-socialist terrorsist over the last decade in Germany was protected and sponsored by the German secret service of the interior (Verfassungsschutz) and the police was either hindered in their investigations or were eager to follow any lead but the obvious - that the perps were committing hate crimes, They shamed the victims/ family of the victims instaed by assuming that the killings had to do with illegal gambling or drug-dealing/ -smuggling. Hope it gives you some perspective about class rule in other countries. P.S.: Being a state employee myself (like police-officers) I still do not think that all or most of them (here in Germany that is) are out to "get me". They are trying their best to do their job, to uphold law and order.

Hey, I got accidentally drunk last time I went to the pub. "Wasshnt my fawlt, offisser ... ze bier made me drink it. Cumming to sink off it: I was beveraped!"

What is you guys' take on the new shooting in Missouri? From what I have heard so far in the German media the youngsters (18 years old) was indeed pointing a 9mm gun at the cop who then shot three times hitting once and killed the youth. German media is speaking of demonstrations in the 300s and new "race riots" since the young man was black. Can't say if the cop has had an itchy trigger-finger but it seems that the shooting was within the range of possible responses (adding, like I did before and Mark does, that it seems that shooting at people seems to be a handy method for US police to deal with a problem).

What about a Trollette? Is she already taken? If not consider this ad: "I am a sweet little (under 8 feet tall) Catholic trollette and I am looking for a serious relationship, troll, ogre, Harlem-Globetrottin' human prefered. I am romantic, family-minded and easy-going. Only serious answers please - you kinky gnomes can bugger off!"

Seeing the reactions of the officers in New York City towards the mayor (turning your back on the elected head of the city, basically saying "F*** you!") and the other articles of police behaving like jerks at best, armed and dangerous bully in the mean-time bordering on what I would expect from a foreign army occupying an enemy's country, I do think that a "US (cops) versus THEM (everyone else)"-mentality does not seem wide-spread amongst U.S. cops, but mandatory to get the job in the first place! Some serious TRAINING and RE-TRAINING seems to be the order of the day. And the propagation of cops doing a 100% service to serve as examples of how to serve and protect. Regarding the incidents in Missouri and New York City and the shot-down kid in the park: To me, absolutely different things. Eric Garner was a working-class guy trying to make end-meet with selling cigarettes one at a time! It was against the law but he didn't harm anyone and the tax damage was most likely neglectable (he was probally not moving thousands of smokes that way a day). So, he was poor. And he wasn't observing a law that is aimed agianst poor people (who else sells and buys cigarettes one by one?) For that, he got killed. This sound not like a story from 2014 to me, but from 1914, 1924 or 1934. So what is this: Class War in the Second American Great Depression? Michael Brown was a bully and a thief who didn't follow the law. And since he was a bully and not very smart but big he thought that when a cop tells you to get off the street you can just get his gun and give it to the cop. Well, he was wrong. He was killed because he made a foolish decision (attacking an armed cop). He did quite a lot to find trouble. He found it. Now he is dead. No sympathy here. Was mugged at gun-point once myself and have since then ZERO tolerance for such trash. Good riddance! I don't understand the US grand jury system but if that is the system then you have to us it. Investigating thewhole thing in court would have been better than "Don''t shot!"-know-it-alls and Al "Where is the race-bandwagon?" Sharpton in the street who come along as having been quite pleased if thecop had bought the farm. BTW: Has Al a day job or is he just waiting for another white-on-black killing taking place so that he can hit the streets chanting? and how does he make a living out of that? The kid in the park (lost his name) was killed because he played unwisely with a toy-gun that American industry deems to be more sales-worthy if it looks almost like a real one. For playing in the way he played with it he should have received a stern word from his parents of the police and maybe they should have confiscated the toy and told him that his parents could get at from the station. Depending on the reaction of the pareants (if they had been like "How dare you take that toy-gun away from my son!") they could have told the parents about the danger of playing with real-life-looking toy-guns. But instead of all that he was gunned down in what I assume to be the first cop-drive-by that I have eaver seen on video outside of a movie! The kid was murdered by killer-cops.