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Mate of mine said the same thing early this morning. I wasn't sure how he could tell from a photo but he seems to know his stuff so I'll defer to him since he's in the business. He reckoned it was dry rot. I'm not sure if overcrowding was the deciding factor. I'm no structural engineer but it boggles my mind that a structure like that was using wood as a load-bearing material rather than steel. I see a lot of wood used in construction out here, I suppose they have their reasons and they know what they're doing, but still, it makes me wonder.

When I heard the thing had tipped over at 90 degrees the blood went cold in my veins, it must have been horrifying.

Good man, Fox. So now you want me to do the blackface thing as well, eh?

Maybe now would be a good time for you to tell us what point you're trying to make, because I'm damned if I know what you're waffling about.

I would propose industry experts run things and politicians hold them accountable.

That's pretty much how local government already works in the states. Professional city staff do the technical homework, they produce reports and make their recommendations.

Council meetings are then held in public, city staff are represented by the city manager and city attorney. Elected council members can ask questions of city staff on their recommendations, members of the public can make their comments, and council votes on it.

There's advantages and disadvantages to localized policing, but I think the main problem is a lack of police accountability. Contrary to what Whitey says about Joe Duffy, in Ireland (north) you've got the office of Police Ombudsman, in the south you've got the GSOC. At least in theory you have independent bodies that you can go to that have the power to investigate the cops, so you have somebody to police the policemen.

In the US you've got the Department of Justice but that's very high up the ladder at federal level which probably makes it a bit inaccessible to the average joe with a complaint. Plus it probably depends on what kind of an administration is in the White House. I couldn't see a Republican administration being as keen to investigate police wrongdoing.

You could try complaining directly to the police department, but the conflict of interest there is obvious enough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8v7lF5ttlQ

If I were to put independent police ombudsmen in place in the states I'd say county level would be the best place for it. City level would be a bit too messy, plus you have some police departments that straddle various cities and even counties in some cases. BART police, which patrols the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, can be found in about half a dozen different counties and probably twenty different cities.

"None of", "your," and "business."

LOL - You mean one where there are Chai Latte's and Couscous
Make sure the nice police officers are keeping an eye out for you.

For the benefit of anyone wondering what Fox is on about, let me recap.

He says that all black people have to do is to stop breaking the law and the law will stop hassling them.

I said that he'd know it's not that simple if he tried to see things from a black person's point of view.

He responded by telling me that if he needs to see things from a black person's perspective, then I should move to Oakland where black people live.

No, it makes no sense to me either.

I see.

Maybe when the rest of the world grows up and has big universities, even private ones, they will need their own police departments too? They won't even need to be underage drinking because the drinking age will be 18 in most of those countries. God knows how the women will survive.

There's no need to be so defensive about this, Muppet. Policing is very fragmented in the US, that's just the way it's set up. Each municipal unit has its own police department, even the smallest town will have its own PD. Fire departments are the same, it's all run on the same lines as local government. Some universities are so big and cover such a big area that they have their own zip codes and in some cases even their own police departments. I don't know if it's the best way to do things or not but there it is.

"None of", "your," and "business."

I hang out in Oakland occasionally. What of it?

He tells black people to just stop getting shot and them asks me about life in the ivory tower.

And what, prey tell, does my location have to do with the racism of cops? Hmm?

Anybody who says black people should "just obey the law and no harm will come to them" would need to spend a day in America living as a black person to see what it's like. Here's probably the best example I've seen of how differently blacks and whites are treated in this "post racial America" that the right wing media keeps talking about. Two people do the exact same thing: openly carry an AR15 rifle in the street in a state where it is legal to do so. Watch the different reactions from the police and come back to me with your theories about why racial prejudice has nothing to do with it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvW_zBvJlsA

[Tamir Rice: judge finds cause for murder charge over police killing of 12-year-old]

12 year-old black kid plays with a toy gun in a park. Cops show up and he's dead within two seconds. Let's hear your justification for this summary execution, you banjo-playing rednecks:

Tamir Rice: judge finds cause for murder charge over police killing of 12-year-old

A judge in Ohio said on Thursday he had found probable cause to charge a police officer with murder for the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice last year.

Judge Ronald Adrine of the Cleveland municipal court said there were grounds to prosecute officer Timothy Loehmann with murder, manslaughter, reckless homicide and negligent homicide.

Adrine also found there was probable cause for a charge of negligent homicide against officer Frank Garmback, Loehmann's partner, who was present when Tamir was shot at a park on 22 November while holding a pellet gun.

Tamir Rice
Tamir Rice. Photograph: Facebook
The judge's recommendation, however, was brushed aside by Timothy McGinty, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, who pledged to proceed as planned with having a grand jury decide on whether the officers should be charged.

"This case, as with all other fatal use of deadly force cases involving law enforcement officers, will go to the grand jury," McGinty said in a statement. "That has been the policy of this office since I was elected. Ultimately, the grand jury decides whether police officers are charged or not charged."

In a 10-page order, Judge Adrine wrote that after viewing surveillance video, which shows Tamir being shot dead within two seconds of Loehmann's arrival, he was "still thunderstruck by how quickly this event turned deadly".

The judge said Tamir was given "little if any time" to respond to any commands from the officers, that his arms were not raised, and that he made no "furtive movement". Adrine wrote: "Literally, the entire encounter is over in an instant."

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Adrine noted that his role remained "advisory in nature" and that any charges must be brought by prosecutors for the city of Cleveland or Cuyahoga County.

However, Walter Madison, an attorney for Tamir's family, said on Thursday that he knew of no legitimate impediment to a prosecution and that Loehmann and Garmback should be arrested and arraigned in court.

"We are very much relieved and it is a step towards procedural justice and people having access to their government," Madison told the Guardian.

The judge's finding followed community leaders taking advantage of a little-known law to appeal directly to the judge to commence a prosecution of the officer, as is permitted in Ohio and a few other states.

The Counted: people killed by police in the United States in 2015 – interactive
The Guardian is counting the people killed by US law enforcement agencies this year. Read their stories and contribute to our ongoing, crowdsourced project
Read more
"State law does provide an avenue for a private citizen having knowledge of facts to initiate the criminal process," Adrine wrote in his order.

Madison said the judge's finding showed "the police are public servants and not the public's master".

In a statement issued through their attorneys, the Rice family said the eight community leaders who filed affidavits to the judge accusing the officers of murder had "provided a blueprint for the nation to follow in addressing many of the relationship problems between African Americans and law enforcement".

Loehmann shot Tamir dead while responding to a 911 call claiming Tamir was pointing his pellet gun. The caller noted the gun was "probably fake", though it is unclear if that information was shared with the officers.

Adrine noted in his order on Thursday that the video shows the officers' patrol car was "still in the process of stopping when Tamir is shot", that for four minutes "neither officer approaches Tamir as he lies wounded on the ground", and that they physically restrained Tamir's sister when she tried to reach him.

An investigation into the shooting by the Cuyahoga County sheriff's office has been completed and handed to the office of McGinty, the county prosecutor.

Clifford Pinkney, the county sheriff, said his office had conducted an "extensive, thorough and unbiased investigation" based on thousands of documents, multiple interviews and reconstructions of the incident.

The decision to proceed with a grand jury in Tamir's case has prompted anxiety among his family's supporters, who argue that the format lacks transparency and favours police officers in controversial cases.

A grand jury in St Louis, Missouri, last year declined to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson, who killed Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old in August. The following week, a grand jury in New York decided not to indict a police officer who caused the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, by placing him in a chokehold.

Earlier this year Barack Obama's White House policing taskforce recommended that all fatalities caused by law enforcement officers be investigated by independent prosecutors to avoid potential conflicts of interest among local authorities.

Full story including the shocking video:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/11/tamir-rice-police-officer-murder-charge

Jumped fences, eh? Well that settles it. Shoot the blackguards!

"The four of us stood in the dark for 10 or so minutes waiting for the gas to finish pumping. Graeme had a feast of chocolate trail mix, Will was slumped over, Dermot was saying something in Irish, and I was waiting for the caffeine to digest so I could start my 150-mile stint of straight driving. We weren't even close to Montana."

Read on for an inspiring account of Cal's epic journey to the national college hurling championships in Montana, and what it means to play in a jersey that represents an American university:

http://www.dailycal.org/2015/06/09/highway-to-hurling/

This article in the campus newspaper at Cal is one of the best GAA road-trip stories I've read in a long time.

What amazes me is how quickly everyone assumes, like the cop did, that it was the black kids who were "causing a disturbance."

So how do the klan grand wizards and chief dragons explain this...?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZjHwOHFJGk