GTA Online, Red Dead Online Will Temporarily Go Offline In Honor of George Floyd (polygon.com) 246
Rockstar Games, 2K games, and their parent company Take-Two Interactive announced on Thursday that they will shut down the servers for games such as Grand Theft Auto Online, Red Dead Online, and NBA 2K for two hours on Thursday afternoon "to honor the legacy of George Floyd." Polygon reports: "Black Lives Matter," said Rockstar Games on its official Twitter account. "To honor the legacy of George Floyd, today, 6/4/20, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET, we will be shutting down access to our online games, Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online." "Following the memorial," Rockstar added in a follow-up tweet, "we hope you will join us in further honoring the many victims of America's racial injustices by supporting their families, black-owned businesses, those marching on the streets, and coalitions." Rockstar ended its thread with a link to Charity Navigator, a nonprofit organization that maintains a vetted list of civil rights-focused charities.
In addition to Rockstar's titles, additional games from 2K Games and Social Point will go offline as well from 2-4 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Take-Two Interactive said in a statement to Polygon. The list includes NBA 2K, Dragon City, and Monster Legend. Private Division, whose portfolio includes The Outer Worlds and Kerbal Space Program, will also "suspend" its activities during the window. "George Floyd's memory will serve as a reminder that racism and the violence it incites cannot be tolerated," Take-Two Interactive said. "We are committed to supporting efforts to eradicate racial injustice and stand in solidarity with the Black community against this systemic issue that causes conflict and division in our society."
In addition to Rockstar's titles, additional games from 2K Games and Social Point will go offline as well from 2-4 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Take-Two Interactive said in a statement to Polygon. The list includes NBA 2K, Dragon City, and Monster Legend. Private Division, whose portfolio includes The Outer Worlds and Kerbal Space Program, will also "suspend" its activities during the window. "George Floyd's memory will serve as a reminder that racism and the violence it incites cannot be tolerated," Take-Two Interactive said. "We are committed to supporting efforts to eradicate racial injustice and stand in solidarity with the Black community against this systemic issue that causes conflict and division in our society."
This is stupid... (Score:2, Insightful)
Paying customers should not have their entertainment shutdown like this. It risks setting people against the cause more than it helps.
Just put up a notice that something is being done in George Floyd's memory instead. That is how you honor someone. Unless its for the funeral moments of silence or shutting things down is a waste of time, which is for the living after this.
Just put something up in Mr. Floyd's honor or do something for the family that lost him... how about that instead?
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Re: George Floyd was counterfeiting money... (Score:2, Funny)
We need to honor more drunk drivers.
Tonight, in honor of Floyd, Iâ(TM)m going to drink a fifth and hit some propanol. Then it is time to cruise the streets!
Maybe I hold a pregnant lady at gun point. Not sure, going to play this one by ear.
These are all things George did in his life and some right near the end.
In loving memory of George Floyd.
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Then the guy was killed by some crummy cops. There is nothing worth "honoring" here.
It's worth honoring the memory of a modern civilised society after the people in charge of protecting that society proceed to murder someone while they beg for their life without due process.
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It's worth honoring the memory of a modern civilised society after the people in charge of protecting that society proceed to murder someone while they beg for their life without due process.
Unfortunate that the innocent victims of this tribal warfare won't get their own sainthood memorials. If only there was a narrative that would fit them.
Who knows when the next tribal war will be provoked, either. But at least it is good for ratings, clicks, upvotes and retweets.
Re:This is stupid... (Score:4, Insightful)
Whole point of protest is inconveniencing people to hopefully have them look at what's going on. Shutting down the online components of the game during the memorial is a way to do that.
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This is virtue signaling and blackwashing - not protesting.
If these companies really cared they can move their offices to Minnesota or Detroit or other black impoverished areas and give these people jobs and job training.
But no - they’ll do their 2 minutes penance and then continue to hire H1Bs and live in white privileged enclaves like San Francisco or LA.
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Well your virtue signalling about virtue signalling (ironic!) is really clear. I like how you whinge about people about not doing enough while you do nothing at all.
If these companies really cared they can move their offices to Minnesota or Detroit or other black impoverished areas and give these people jobs and job training.
It's GTA, we're talking about here you numpty. The core team is in Scotland.
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This is virtue signalling. Complaining about someone trying to do something to help is just showing off how woke you are about virtue signalling.
Personally I was more impressed by Lego's response. $4M donation and pulled all the sets with cops in them from shelves.
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That's a really good point. Rockstar have profited from this on-going problem with their games for years. Not just in San Andreas, all the 3D games have elements of it. GTA V has a black man as a central character too.
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Re:This is stupid... (Score:4, Informative)
They aren't talking about having no police you plank. They are talking about getting rid of the current lot and starting over with a new police force because the current one is beyond reform.
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The proposed budget for the LAPD this year is over $3,000,000,000. So some of that could be cut via defunding and put into preventing crime in the first place, e.g. early intervention, better education, social services.
With a shrinking police force you can then get rid of the worst police departments and the worst officers in others. Some new recruits will be needed too.
One other thing that works is using civilians. For some situations instead of sending cops you sent civilians working for the cops. Situati
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I honestly find it hard to believe that you really, genuinely think that Democrat politicians are talking about having no police at all.
I'm trying to understand where you are getting this from. Trump seems to have said it beyond that when I google "democrats defund police" I get a mix of articles explaining what it means and a few right wing crank sites like KFYO claiming they want no police.
For example Vox states that "The basic idea, though, is less that policing budgets should be literally zeroed out tha
Re: This is stupid... (Score:2, Informative)
Re: This is stupid... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This is stupid... (Score:4, Insightful)
They are not shutting down their services, they are shutting down their customers services, a big ole fuck you to the customers and exactly the kind of behaviour of that rogue law enforcer, who utterly indifferently murdered someone. It's like a fucking bank, making an announcement, in light of the floyed murder we will be withdrawing $100 dollars from everyone's account, except fucking ours and donating it to Floyd. Those fuckers actually save money by not running those servers, they are generating a direct profit from virtue signalling, they really are thieves, their attitudes do truly reflect the games they design, all about criminality as a goal. They truly are a totally arrogant company and after fucking around with a broken recaptcha (the verify button off screen, I mean the utter level of total incompetence) and just fucking off GTAV (what is it with the epic games launcher half the games are broken in way way or another), I am never buying one of take two games ever.
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Those fuckers actually save money by not running those servers
Probably not, they should have reserved instances or own their own servers, so they pay whether they are used or not.
Re:This is stupid... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:This is stupid... (Score:4, Insightful)
So you inconvenience people who may be sympathetic to your cause, but are NOT responsible for it. So you take people who were ambivalent or even on your side....and make them your enemies. Explain to me how does that help your cause?
Cuz if they said it was just the normal monthly server downtime maintenance window, it would just annoy everyone, like it always does :P
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So you inconvenience people who may be sympathetic to your cause, but are NOT responsible for it. So you take people who were ambivalent or even on your side....and make them your enemies. Explain to me how does that help your cause?
Same way the blacking out websites thing worked a few years ago. You inconvenience people a little bit over something big and they actually thing about it and some of them will do something.
JFC not being mildly inconvenienced occasionally is not the highest state of being, thoug
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Justice for Ariel Roman!!!
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could be worse - the people affected could have, wait for it, this is terrible, awful....... criticised China
If they shut down servers for an hour, imagine what they would have done if those cops had said China should stop attacking Hong Kong protestors!!!! [screenrant.com]
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Paying customers should not have their entertainment shutdown like this. It risks setting people against the cause more than it helps.
Welcome to Clownworld.
So many people, myself included, have been surprised by just how far and fast the corporate world is lining up to kiss SJW ass, but it was pointed out to me recently that Millenials, truly the Vanguard of Woke in America, are now in their late 20's and 30's, and have ascended to positions of power in PR and HR departments. Indeed, those deparments tend to skew younger than other departments, such as finance and accounting, so that shouldn't have surprised me. But as of now, the vast ma
Re:This is stupid... (Score:4, Funny)
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Good luck all you Millennials and Gen-Z, you're gonna need it!
Well yeah, the Millennials have been saying they will need all the luck they can get after the hand they were dealt by selfish boomers. But leaving that aside let's address the notion that the world is better off experiencing pain.
Have you ever heard of the hierarchy of needs? It's an old social model that shows to fundamentally improve and better yourself you need to address core issues first before you can move on. Not having the world fucked up by war doesn't necessarily make future generations some kind
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So many people, myself included, have been surprised by just how far and fast the corporate world is lining up to kiss SJW ass, but it was pointed out to me recently that Millenials, truly the Vanguard of Woke in America, are now in their late 20's and 30's, and have ascended to positions of power in PR and HR departments.
Indeed. Those millennials happen to also recognise that in some cases customers care about shit, so it's actually refreshing to see companies try to kiss some customer arse for a change.
Personally I couldn't care about SJW garbage, but I will none the less leave you with an: "ok boomer"
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Welcome to Clownworld.
So many people, myself included, have been surprised by just how far and fast the corporate world is lining up to kiss SJW ass, but it was pointed out to me recently that Millenials, truly the Vanguard of Woke in America, are now in their late 20's and 30's, and have ascended to positions of power in PR and HR departments. Indeed, those deparments tend to skew younger than other departments, such as finance and accounting, so that shouldn't have surprised me. But as of now, the vast majority of PR, including social media for corporations, is now run on a day to day basis by a generation that thinks we can have Full Socialism NOW! AND keep getting new iPhones. And their elders are too scared or too feckless to smack them down a notch or two.
... You don't bother with any news other than Fox do you?
Take Two is a shit company. If anything they are hyper capitalists who have scandal after scandal. Abuse women of the workplace where the HR staff just blatantly ignored, burn out employees to just burn off more college grads and even just destroy indie companies by stealing their employees. The fact that they even announced this fairly close to their server down time is not suspect, its expected
You honestly think Take Two is doing this to be "woke
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Which is true.
Anonymous Cowards are retarded. Which is true. But it would offend you to recongnise this. Oh I'm sure you're going to argue against it but I said it's true therefore it is. Sorry, you made the rules and now you gotta stick by them.
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Don't we get drowned in this shit enough in real life?
Why does this crap have to infect our PASSTIMES too?
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This is probably why I don't partake of those hobbies.
Irritating me when I'm armed is probably a Very Very BAD idea.
My time at the range is actually very relaxing...And most ranges boot obnoxious twatwaffles with impunity.
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Paying customers should not have their entertainment shutdown like this. It risks setting people against the cause more than it helps.
Out of curiosity, do you know what GTA or RDR2 vare about(referring to both plot AND how they're actually played) ... also did you have a TV on at all this last weekend?
Signed, ... a paying Rockstar customer who is okay with the move.
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Team Fortress 2 recently eulogized Rick May. They patched in a statue to him on several of their maps, and ran the maps that way for a month (all of May, actually). Players held their own memorials as well. For those who don't know, Rick May was one of the voice actors featured prominently in the game.
There was no need to shut down any game servers.
Various bots, on the other hand, gave Valve plenty of hell and effectively shut down game servers so hah.
If I played videogames (Score:5, Insightful)
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this would make me mad at companies virtue signalling.
Hi. I do play both games, and I don't blame Rockstar, I blame the US Government for receiving a clear message few years ago and proceeding to do NOTHING about it. Just a few nights ago I watched from a live stream at one of the protests as a Medical Helicopter hovered low to the ground making a whole bunch of noise and just sitting there being a spectacle whose visage is familiar to many gamers. If it were MST3k I guarantee a GTA quip would have been made and I'd bet $50 that it'd specifically be a joke i
Shit. (Score:2, Funny)
I may or may not make it but at least I'll leave an impression somewhere (probably on the trunk lid of a Dodge Charger).
Re:Shit. (Score:5, Funny)
If take-two wanted to honour his memory, they should add extra features to GTA.
Maybe an option to take way too much fentatyl and hold pregnant women hostage while your gang ransacks their houses. That kind of memorial would have been what he wanted.
Re: Shit. (Score:2, Funny)
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That's white privilege you see right there in action. White guy, me, gets content-free response. You, get nothing :-)
(please identify as black, just for the duration of this thread, thanks).
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Just try browsing on your phone you see the hell slashdot has gone down. It was bought out by Dice.com but they ended selling it to BizX, LLC. Hell, if you look at their website its like it hasn't changed since 2016...oh sorry, if you click on "news" they anouced they are merging with Slashdot Media? I am sure there are others who know more than me about it but it just seems after Dice the news quality have kind of gone down hill.
WTF? (Score:2, Insightful)
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people are afraid of the mob for good reason. Its the same reason a big man walks around downtown making white women kneel and support them (with the implied consequence of mob justice if she refuses). The feminists dont care about this because there is too much man spreading to deal with and they have no time for real injustice.
WTF are you talking about? Link?
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
So once in jail, always a person to despise? Why is a cop with a violent past allowed to remain a cop? George Floyd is a symbol at the moment for all the other black people who died needlessly due to police actions. You may as well ask why the single straw broke the camel's back if you ignore all the other straws being piled on.
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Killing white people will never trigger riots. White people don't recognize other white people as "their people" unless they're family or very close friends.
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I'll tell you one thing, recent events have certainly shown me which slashdotters are the most extraordinary dumbasses.
His conviction was 11 years ago (Score:5, Interesting)
What was Floyd actually killed for? Passing a counterfeit $20. I did this once. Cops came and took the bill. I was out $20 bucks and otherwise not worse for wear. I'll let you guess my skin color.
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The fentanyl in his system was from now, not from 11 years ago.
I test positive for fentanyl 2 or 3 times a year (Score:5, Informative)
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How about this video?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
It looks like a struggle to me.
(Just so you know: Resisting arrest would not justify killing a man)
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Honestly if I pick up a guy for passing fake money, and he tries to run while cuffed, I let him run.
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He wasn't a dangerous criminal, but let's be honest, he probably wasn't taking fentanyl by prescription. I'm sure the defense attorneys for those cops will find out soon enough exactly what was the source of the fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system. Then the prosecutor gets to object to the introduction of that evidence, and the game will be afoot.
Of course, you don't kill someone for being high. The correct thing to do would have been to call EMTs before attempting to process Floyd to make sure th
If I lost my insurance and threw out my back (Score:2)
More than anything that's where our opioid crisis came from. It's the Breaking Bad effect. If you've never thrown out your back, I mean really done it, then you've got no idea the pain. You'd do anything to make it stop. Every muscle in your body moves your back a little. Arms, legs, neck, hell your bloody fingers do it.
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He was on meth and fentanyl. Either or.
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Passing a fake $20, yeah no big deal. Being high on a mix of drugs and fighting with the police? Kind of ups your risk. Should he have died? No. I don't condone anyone dying once in police custody. Still, play stupid games, win stupid prizes. It's not victim blaming to point out that actions have consequences
Let's not pretend that time served counts for diddly in the US. It will follow you and interfere with your life forever, regardless of race. The punishment doesn't end when the sentence is s
He didn't fight with police. We have Video (Score:3, Informative)
As for being high, go watch the video again. He was perfectly lucid until 9 minutes without oxygen in the brain. That's around the time he started begging for his momma to save him. Not long after he died.
Meanwhile the cop who killed him knew him. If you think that's coincidence I've got a really nice bridge out west to sell
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Meanwhile the cop who killed him knew him. If you think that's coincidence I've got a really nice bridge out west to sell ya. Go look up Beau of the Fifth Column on YouTube.
I haven't seen it mentioned much in the main stream media, but there have been some people digging into that fact and they present an interesting scenario [twitter.com] that Floyd and Chauvin were both involved in some shady enterprise and Floyd may have been intentionally killed. I have no idea how valid any of that is or to what degree some of it could be mere coincidence, but given everything else that happened in the wake of this, I almost think there are going to be conspiracy theories (there're also idiots on Twitt
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That's a really roundabout and unreliable way to off somebody. I think stupidity, and the cop just being a plain thug, is a better explanation.
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Why didn't they just let him go when he resisted arrest? He was a nonviolent criminal. They had probable cause to arrest him over counterfeit currency. The risk in letting him run off (in cuffs no less) is that maybe he passes another counterfeit bill. That's about it.
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Eh you're an apologist.
We have it on video, the police slowly murdering a completely restrained man over the course of 8 minutes.
This is not a case of "play stupid games win stupid prizes" this is you trying to downplay a cold blooded murder.
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What was Floyd actually killed for? Passing a counterfeit $20. I did this once. Cops came and took the bill. I was out $20 bucks and otherwise not worse for wear. I'll let you guess my skin color.
Based on the 911 call that the police received [minneapolis.mn.us], the store clerk claimed that Floyd had actually purchased some things with it and when confronted about returning the merchandise (specifically cigarettes) refused. The person who made the call also described Floyd as "awfully drunk and not in control of himself." The toxicology report done as part of his autopsy [hennepin.us] came back negative for alcohol, but he did have fentanyl (among other drugs) in his system which may have been the cause of that erratic behavior.
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although the autopsy [hennepin.us] suggests he wasn't murdered - no suggestion of asphyxia caused by constriction of the neck, but a significantly large amount of various drugs and the effects of sars-cov-2 in his lungs and a history of hypertension suggests he had a heart attack because of the stress of violently resisting being arrested.
Re: The autopsy the cops did suggested that (Score:3, Informative)
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That was the first autopsy, the real one addresses some of the points the first made, and refutes them with science.
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What matters about this is that as more evidence has come out this was not about race. Floyd looks to have known the guy the killed him and looks to have had issues before he was killed. There is far more to then the media is telling us since we have the lawyer for the Floyd family calling it "premeditated murder" which would mean the killing had been thought out in advance and there was a decision to kill him which is not the story you get now.
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Re: WTF? (Score:2)
For a moment, let's assume you're 100% right.
Let's also assume that he was counterfeiting money. And that he, literally just seconds before, outright killed a pregnant woman with a gun still in his possession at the time of arrest, with witnesses present. Also, that he kicked a dog and ate its puppies.
If he had done all that, that STILL wouldn't justify him bring murdered by police, and it would STILL be outrageous and worthy of protests.
There's a law, a judge, a jury and, if necessary, an executioner. You
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You do indeed have that right, and the overwhelming majority of people get that chance. Just think what would happen though if everyone protested every single murder that was committed by anyone, or every manslaughter, inadvertent death and so on instead of saying "Well, looks like the courts are doing what they're meant to". The world would be in a state of perpetual chaos.
The real narrative is basically along the lines of "someone was killed. Nobody is sure whether it's malicious, accidental or anythin
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But WHY THE FUCK are they honoring a violent criminal?
They aren't. He is just a name that is attached to a truly honourable memory. We should all honour the passing memory of a society where you have a presumption of innocence and don't get murdered by police without due cause. We should honour the memory of a society where we don't dismiss such a case as "I don't care about him because I *think* he was a criminal"
Maybe you saw a different video than I did, but what was missing in my video was lawyers, arguments, a case presented, and a guilty verdict resultin
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Because no matter someone's past they don't deserve to be murdered.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Walmart stopped selling guns too. Interesting that the thing which made them decide to do that was not all the white guys shooting up schools, it was when some black protesters might want to emulate the white protesters from a few weeks ago by arming themselves.
ridiculous (Score:2)
Re:ridiculous (Score:4, Insightful)
You elected one President...
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Have you ever played GTA 5? You just described a few of the main characters.
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Oh you're right, he wasn't a pillar of the community, therefore it's perfectly fine that he should be summarily excecuted by the police. Nothing wrong there, let's all go about our business.
virtue signalling? (Score:2, Interesting)
Basically, "Hey, they're virtual-signalling so they can be seen! I'm also not actually concerned about the underlying situation, but who's with me in calling them out!"
"The tragedy and irony is too much to bear." (Score:2)
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There was - the autopsy said he was not "executed by fascist cops" because the ME found no evidence of asphyxia in the face, neck:
A.No facial, oral mucosal, or conjunctival petechiae
B.No injuries of anterior muscles of neck or laryngeal structures
C.No scalp soft tissue, skull, or brain injuries
D.No chest wall soft tissue injuries, rib fractures (other than a single rib fracture from CPR), vertebral column injuries, or visceral injuries
E.Incision and subcutaneous dissection of posterior and lateral neck, sho
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"petechiae are little red spots that form if you're strangled."
I'm no CSI expert, but wouldn't that be hard to see on dark skin?
Wait, let's Google that!
"When the skin is black or very dark brown, petechiae cannot be seen in the skin."
Yep!
https://books.google.nl/books?... [google.nl]
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An autopsy attempts to figure out what happened after the death.
We have the murder on video and it is well known that the techniques used by the cops can lead to death.
So yes, fascist cop execution, followed by a bunch of fascist bootlickers trying to pretend it wasn't.
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The medical examiner's office in Minnesota has released its full 20-page autopsy report on George Floyd's death.
The 20-page report released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office came with the family's permission and after the coroner's office released summary findings Monday that Floyd had a heart attack while being restrained by officers, and classified his May 25 death as a homicide.
His official cause of death is listed as "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restrain, and neck compression", which in plain English means the knee pressing into his neck resulted in cardiac arrest.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/wor... [nzherald.co.nz]
This is actual report if you want to read it for yourself: https://www.hennepin.us/-/medi... [hennepin.us]
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ME do not classify the death as anything. That's for the courts to decide. This ain't an episode of Quincy.
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It's been widely reported that the coroner is saying it was murder.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/n... [forbes.com]
https://www.abc.net.au/news/20... [abc.net.au]
https://www.dw.com/en/george-f... [dw.com]
https://www.thetottenhamindepe... [thetottenh...dent.co.uk]
https://www.theguardian.com/us... [theguardian.com]
https://fox40.com/news/family-... [fox40.com]
Take your pick of sources.
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I think you should fill yourself full of Fentanyl, Methamphetamine and Cannabis to show the rednecks that taking that much drugs is completely harmless.
That's what my cow orker said... (Score:2)
One of the people I work with said that's when they have server maintenance already.
I don't know, I haven't had both my PC and decent internet access in ages. To the point that I would benefit from a new PC if I'm going to play current games. I have a FX-8350 with 2x 950s... But I do want to play RDR2. RDRR...
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That's a lot better than "Lets go and burn shit down and hurt people because we believe we're being targeted, when the evidence says we're not, but we don't like evidence when it doesn't say what we like it to say".