Hacker News Reader

Comment by dorkwood | Hacker News Reader

There's another video of a man who approaches a line of police at a protest, likely exchanging a few words but clearly unnarmed and walking very slowly. One police officer walks up to the man and pepper sprays him. As he turns to avoid it, a second police officer approaches, and fires what appears to be a tear gas canister at the man's head from point blank range.

Even not knowing what happened leading up to this, it's completely unacceptable behavior. The sheer number of videos just like this one make me ashamed that I ever gave the police the benefit of the doubt in the past.

https://mobile.twitter.com/jusalotofpain/status/126763842772...

View on HN

God, actually shooting the guy in the head was just disgusting. Spraying him is bad enough. The final shot is nothing more than the officer saying he can do absolutely anything he wants up to and including murder (a projectile to the head like that could easily kill a person) and there's nothing that can stop him.

And the worst part is he's right.

I've been on the fence about giving up my US citizenship and taking on citizenship in my new home. Seeing the rapid decline in freedom these past two decades, and the absolute mess recently has helped me make up my mind. I can't let myself return to such a place. I can't be happy with myself knowing that my tax dollars are supporting human rights violations. I'm just done with it.

Sorry for ranting, but man, it's just frustrating seeing everything that's been happening these past few weeks, and seeing everything that's been happening for so long but ignored until recently.

> I've been on the fence about giving up my US citizenship and taking on citizenship in my new home.

I can totally understand wanting to do that, but if it's a jurisdiction that doesn't require an official renunciation or something, I'd keep the US one and continue to vote absentee from abroad.

There's only so much voting can do, but I really hope that the people with their heads screwed on straight don't stop any time soon.

You think this is a current administration problem?

Did you miss the commenter saying this has been a problem for two decades(+)???

I'm actually curious about your thought process. Not trying to be confrontational.

I'm not sure which country you are moving to, but the question is the same. With how much power the US has, and how intertwined the world is, do you believe that you are permanently better off out of the country?

Sure, the US is by no means all-powerful; but if the US joins China and Russia's descent into the throes of outright authoritarianism, what leads you to believe you are safe? In this scenario, you would arguably be better off at the onset, but these three countries would surely take the rest of the world down with them? Not even outright invasions and occupations, but bog-standard bullying and destabilization, a la South China Sea or Iraq?

EDIT: Iraq was invasion and occupation. That maybe wasn't the best example of mere "destabilization" on my part.

In a hypothetical all out war between China, Russia, and America, what place is safe? There's no way to know right now. Maybe all the countries America has invaded in that past decide to ally up and thoroughly pillage the country for all that its worth. Who knows. In a world war scenario, there's no guarantee that anywhere is safe.

What I do know is that looking at the state of the world today, being thousands of miles away is definitely safer. It's been nothing but consistent and rapid decline in liberty in the US and the protests. For every police department that says they've done something wrong, there are five of them out there cheering when an officer is released for brutality.

Maybe there's a chance America will do something someday in the future to my current home, but America is detaining and beating innocent people within its own borders today.

If you were committed to being an expat, there are tax advantages to renouncing your U.S. citizenship.

The police are individuals, don't treat them as one large indistinguishable group.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com