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They would call the APD and they will do their jobs free of personal bias to uphold the law which is what WE pay them to do.

Shelter dog acquired. My cats are disgusted, hopefully they get over it.

Earbuds aren't the problem. it's volume. I've used earbuds for several 10hr NUE races and Enchilida Buffets maybe even a TMBRA or two. At low volume you can still hear everything, even riders calling to pass or getting on your wheels. Road training rides too. Never had a problem. Not saying all others have a brain or care tho.

I appreciated that rant, I could identify a good bit with it. But this right here is the true nugget in your comment. All of the politicians suck. But now that we've all been successfully divided into tribalism with Red on one side and Blue on the other.....then its always 'the other guys [team] fault". -CJB

defund the police is actually about taking away many of the jobs that armed combat trained officers arent best for and moving those to another agency. It isnt about throwing things out but moving them to another agency where the culture is different

ill add my crap 2c I have friends who are cops, from patrolmen to detectives. I also have friends that are protesters. There's definitely a disconnect in humanity between the two and it sucks. Modern day police are stretched further in their job description than ever, for more hours and shittier pay and benefits. A lot of small town/suburban cops have side jobs. I know one that mows lawns to supplement income. Most are far from getting piles of cash. I also know a few sheriffs dept swat guys that love nothing more than slamming redbulls and kicking down doors. Some cops are also sociopaths (takes one to catch one right?). I know some that are lazy good for nothings that get "promoted" to SROs and basically do nothing all day long. I also know some that are just good people trying to earn a living. Point is, they are just like us and a reflection of our society. Problem is, the cops have a monopoly on violence, and they are the stick the state uses to beat us with. In the end, it's the lawmakers who are truly fucking us and should be receiving the public's ire. They are shorting cops, schools, fire depts anything that serves the public is getting cut. Now the bloated police budgets need to be dealt with just like the military budgets. Just because we spend "X" dollars on a department doesn't mean the people on the ground see much or any improvement in their lives. Military is full of poor motherfuckers, yet 60c of every tax dollar collected goes to our mercenary military. Same with the police. The fact that it has become so militarized is the main issue for me. Storm troopers dressed in all black with armor doing driveby policework. 1033 was a total recipe for disaster that shifted the arms race internally when the USSR collapsed, and needs to end. People are angry, scared and really desperate right now. Understandably so. Their leaders have failed them by refusing to stand for anything leaving them no alternative other than to march. They are also flawed, just like the cops. My biggest concern is the lack of central leadership from both sides coming to the table and having real open discussion on how we got where we are, and what we're going to do moving forward. This leaves a vacuum for people who want to stir things up and go buck wild until the state drops the fist on all of us. Those guys snatching people and throwing them into enterprise rental caravans are downright scary. Yet, the mayors and governors are not activating the state police to stop them because the cops are pissed at the protesters as well. It's a big fucking mess, just like everything else we are doing right now. How anyone knowing what lance has done in his past, will now draw a hard line on this, is beyond me. Outraged snowflakes for the sake of being outraged.

RE: Arrested Development The rebooted Netflix stuff isn't very good. The old lady is ready to bail but I may stick it out, although I rarely laugh and find myself multi-tasking on my phone. The mild racism/stereotyping seems to have increased as well. I thought the original stuff was MUCH better.

I didn't know where the police got their bikes before, and I didn't care. I don't care where they will get them in the future. I didn't shop at MJ's before, and I still won't. (It's a bad location for me, I have personal relationships with other shops, etc.) If they were smart, IMHO, they would have used this to pander to both sides. "We are proud to support the APD with the least aggressive, zero emission form of transportation available."

Anti maskers and Chump2020 Mouth Foamers Militia of course, duh. oh and Karen. Back to the point, MJ was a rip off anyways, kinda like 'ol one nut himself.

Anything Corona related is cursed right now. There are two of those restaurant one by Anderson Mill and one by Brushy. I wonder which one. If Brushy that indeed may have been a follow and the thieves used deception to double down on their picnic of a plan. They should have taken a mulligan or a bite from Mittens.

so a bunch fo bootlickers who have never shopped at MJs suddenly got online and wrote nasty reviews of it to drag them down for not kowtowing to the APD mafia? edit: yup. look at the last few reviews on Yelp. the APD cult of bootlickers are out in full force posting "pro-cop" propaganda. their rating is still 3.5. I don't have an opinion about MJ's because I've never had a need to shop there, but a spike in fake reviews from people who have never shopped there is not an honest way to make a point.

This seems to perfectly capture the current zeitgeist: (cartoon credit: F Minus by Tony Carrillo)

I am talking about the agency in general, not the individuals.

Very happy, right down the middle Libertarian here. Both sides suck balls.

I’ve got a problem with you throwing all cops into the corrupt agency pool. How many LE people do you know? How many stories have you heard first hand about the way the public abuses them? What have your experiences been with LE? How do you feel when people put all mountain bikers in the dope smoking, reckless riding, rude category? I’m married to someone in LE. Another recently lived with us. Needless to say, we have many friends in LE and I’m gonna tell you that these are good people that went into law enforcement for ALL THE RIGHT REASONS. We’re fucked without law enforcement. Prove me wrong.

It's not bad behavior. It's protesting. You must be a toxic white male!!!!1

That is not fashionable and gets no clicks.

Amen, and /thread.

This is why I LOVE my mask! can't stop thinking about my last weekend in Steiner Ranch when I put it on.

I agree with this, but cops are human. you're talking about a multi-tool of a cop that does everything well. that's not realistic. We could have a few savant cops that could handle many situations well, but not a whole force. we need to hire and deploy the right tool for the job. writing traffic tickets, de-escalating domestic disputes, helping a person in the middle of a mental health crisis, chasing down a machete massacre suspect, and chasing skateboarders out of a ditch are not toolsets that neatly fit into one person. the detailed critiques and plans that have worked in some communities involve having specialists. some times, you need a tough guy with a gun to take out a bad guy, and that's why you have some of those kind of cops. but that approach does not work out in the public's best interest in most situations. specifically in Austin, we don't live in a hellscape of madmen with swords beheading residents with chainsaws several times a day. sometimes I think that would be an appropriate scenario on MOPAC traffic.

Never been a better time than now to ride-to-the-ride.... -CJB

I highly recommend watching Ernie & Joe on HBO to show two awesome cops do things right, and try to change how things are done. In there you will also see the attitudes by the older cops that they are fighting against, but you also see the new crop be a bit more open minded.

The good news is reservations are only Thursday through Sunday so unemployed guys like me get a break.

It all sounds like a good idea, but does it work in real life? It would be great to have a doctorate of psychology on staff to diffuse domestic violence situations. But when my angry wife has a knife to my throat and I have Alexa dial the police, I don't want them saying, "Our staff psychologist will be out Tuesday to help you." So maybe more funding is needed to cross train the police on the streets. Those police that are already in patrol cars that can respond to calls about anything in short order. Not by Tuesday.

I have a Hornit in my spares box. I might need to put it back on.

bells don't work, need some sort of small loud electric alarm or maybe a mini airsoft gun mounted to the bars

Read about someone who lost his bike today. Went into a restaurant after riding, had bike inside his locked car. The thief broke a window and stole the bike. Kind of sounds like he was followed from the trail. Be careful... Lock up your bike well... Park where you can keep an eye on it if possible.

the bake a cake is a protected class. They could deny for reasons not related to the protected class, but not because of the protected class.

Mack you're responding with facts, sources and the ability to put them into logical conclusion....stop it already you're triggering the APD fangirls.

MJ's is actually using this as an easy excuse to close shop because they can't afford Austin taxes anymore.

I think some of the military style police stuff is way overkill, but we seem to be forgetting the reason many big city Swat teams have these and were funded for these. Remember the tons of mass shooting this Country has been having. Las Vegas ring a bell. Let's not worry about defunding these department s and maybe spend some money on switching the culture of the Policing in America. Get people in place that don't look the other way when a cop is acting in detrimental manner to citizens they serve. Not have a union that is willing to fight for dirty cops, ect.

Man, that could make for an interesting thread over in the General Lunacy forum! Fire away, I say!

Someone please answer this: Trek has suspended the sale of their Police bikes. What is MJ's supposed to sell APD per their contract? Is APD just going to buy a bunch of Marlins and slap "police" stickers on them? The other side of this is that Trek seems to have screwed some bike shops who had contracts with PDs. What's the resolution to that?

Who the fuck reads facebook?

Jesus certainly stirred the pot and was executed by the state for it. If you're interested, I have a thorough rebuttal of that (authoritarian) interpretation of Romans 13. probably not fit for forum consumption though.

some details, so we don't have to rely on rumor and innuendo: https://www.statesman.com/news/20200805/herman-mellow-johnnyrsquos-to-cops-no-bikes-for-you

there is a difference between de-funding and un-funding. here is a detailed plan to reduce the APD funding by $100M so that the money can be allocated to services that better handle some of the ridiculous list of things police are expected to do: https://mailchi.mp/austinjustice/how-we-cut-100-million-now there's a lunatic fringe that just wants to dissolve the police altogether immediately, but the rational approach is to reduce the harm caused by over-policing. I expect we may hear more from police who, like teachers, are expected to deal with all kinds of things but are given not enough resources, or the wrong resources. you can't humanely, effectively deal with mental health, domestic abuse, drug addiction, and the like with just a badge and a gun. you can temporarily, but that leads to more problems down the road. don't you want your tax dollars going to effective solutions to safety problems and not fat cops miking loose overtime pay rules, then breaking their bicycles and taking them to Mellow Johnny's all the time? as a recent example, Mike Ramos tangled with police because some Karen called and said he was using drugs in his car and he had a gun. there were no drugs and no gun, but he was surrounded by aggressive cops while just minding his own business and it ended in tragedy.

Anybody has the right to tell me to fuck off too. But if they do, I don't think I would hang out with them any more. That's MY right. I thought of an analogy about the (crazy) de-fund the police movement: Two guys in a movie theater are talking out loud and being assholes. There are two solutions, 1) Throw the bums out. Or 2) Close the movie theater forever.

Think of the poor horses now that those fat cops won't have bikes.

Businesses should be able to reserve the right to refuse service for whatever reason they see fit. It's their business. If they don't want to sell bikes to APD, they shouldn't. Just like if someone didn't wanna bake a cake for someone, they shouldn't. If profit drops off, they'll have to live with it. If I get refused service somewhere, I'll gladly take my money elsewhere. Just my 2 cents.

lol I wonder who they will call once one of these tent-castle bums or someone else breaks into their shop and jacks a bunch of bikes.

where were all these anti-maskers when the patriot act was being signed again and again? oh yeah, i forgot it's easier to punch down, and mock people who wear masks than to acknowledge the actual tyranny that has been taking place in the name of defense contracts........er i mean "national security" for decades. we are devo

Maybe it's all the gasses escaping from the poop bags that create a high-pressure dome over Walnut Creek and the surrounding area.

Did you get lots of reasonable, well thought out responses from the wonderful people on Nextdoor for the headphone-mask comparison?

does one anecdotal example constitute this kind of thing "on the rise"? maybe it is, maybe it's the same, maybe it's going down. regardless, don't forget to stay vigilant about bike theft. that reminds me, I need to go lock up my bike in the garage.