Black Friday my arse.

[phllvslc]

I've been living in the US for two and a half years now, first in Colorado, now in Tucson, Arizona.  This country amazes me every day.  I was back in Doncaster in September.  Still the same old shit hole it has always been.

Don't blame the United States for the United Kingdom suddenly adopting Black Friday.

[Yargo]

Americanisation eh, fancy supporting a club that plays at the New York Stadium?

[Wild Rover]

Thanks Jucy for the kind Thanksgiving wishes and hearing about your cousins perfect handling of the situation.  Btw, I love Sheplers, and got a pair of cowboy boots from them a couple of years back (not on Black Friday).  Lol

Dutch, I appreciate your feedback and thank you for the fascinating story about the Dutch traditions, which I had never heard before.  I recently read on the BBC that there was a protest against Black Pete in the Netherlands as they felt it was an offensive tradition, but again nothing I knew about before reading the article.  Everywhere is becoming more politically correct these days, and I'm very glad for it.

Shelpers is great, I STILL get my boots and trousers / jeans there,( left states in 2004) even allowing for import tax and delivery costs its still cheaper than UK for quality goods.

[Sandy Lane]

Thank you to the exiles who have contributed to this thread and it's very nice to hear your thoughts on us, but I didn't want it become an US v UK thread and so I tried to explain the reasoning behind some of the issues you are experiencing and object to. 

There are many things I like about the UK which is why I love to visit.  My mothers family originally came from the Birmingham area and were iron workers, and emigrated and started a family business making mouth harps, which my mom now tries to buy on EBay!  So I've inherited a love of your country which comes from her.  I also love the beauty of your country, the cosmopolitan nature of London, the hills of Yorkshire, the museums, Parliament, the friendliness of the people, your sense of humor, generosity, and your ability to articulate so easily and thoroughly your thoughts, and last but not least, football!  It's  true our country doesn't take to football but probably because we're not that good at it yet, so subsequently we don't like it.  Also, the diving and arbitrary nature of extra time goes against the grain as it can so easily be manipulated.  Your government as well as ours has powerful people taking advantage and exploiting their positions as does every country on earth.  But your pound sterling is very strong against the US$ and the Euro, so your economy is doing well.

But to give you some insight to the US, we are merely all about freedom.  As the original poster noted the World Trade Center's new tower is 1776 ft tall.  That is not a statement about you, but more a statement about us. It stands for freedom, which is the basis of our creed. We have a 'don't tell us what to do' chip on our shoulders.  As an example, a while ago there was a debate oh here about guns in our country, which I chose not to participate in because it's nearly impossible to explain or define our culture or anyone's culture tbh.  I don't agree with it, but I understand it.  Funnily I rail against it here, but as soon as the anti gun thread started my 'don't tell me what to do' attitude emerged, so I bowed out.  Our nationalism is another area that is misunderstood, so to explain that a bit as we grow up, every single day at school we had to stand with our hands on our hearts and recite 'The Pledge of Allegiance' and then, THEN, had to sing 'My Country Tis of Thee' to the tune of God save the Queen!  Haha, irony, yes, we do understand it.  But It reinforced our freedoms which are articulated in the Constitution's 'Bill of Rights' which includes freedom to defend ourselves.  Sure, we are big, brash, capitalistic, but the people are friendly, generous, some ill informed, but mostly hard workers who love our country.

[not on facebook]

Thank you to the exiles who have contributed to this thread and it's very nice to hear your thoughts on us, but I didn't want it become an US v UK thread and so I tried to explain the reasoning behind some of the issues you are experiencing and object to. 
There are many things I like about the UK which is why I love to visit.  My mothers family originally came from the Birmingham area and were iron workers, and emigrated and started a family business making mouth harps, which my mom now tries to buy on EBay!  So I've inherited a love of your country which comes from her.  I also love the beauty of your country, the cosmopolitan nature of London, the hills of Yorkshire, the museums, Parliament, the friendliness of the people, your sense of humor, generosity, and your ability to articulate so easily and thoroughly your thoughts, and last but not least, football!  It's  true our country doesn't take to football but probably because we're not that good at it yet, so subsequently we don't like it.  Also, the diving and arbitrary nature of extra time goes against the grain as it can so easily be manipulated.  Your government as well as ours has powerful people taking advantage and exploiting their positions as does every country on earth.  But your pound sterling is very strong against the US$ and the Euro, so your economy is doing well.

But to give you some insight to the US, we are merely all about freedom.  As the original poster noted the World Trade Center's new tower is 1776 ft tall.  That is not a statement about you, but more a statement about us. It stands for freedom, which is the basis of our creed. We have a 'don't tell us what to do' chip on our shoulders.  As an example, a while ago there was a debate oh here about guns in our country, which I chose not to participate in because it's nearly impossible to explain or define our culture or anyone's culture tbh.  I don't agree with it, but I understand it.  Funnily I rail against it here, but as soon as the anti gun thread started my 'don't tell me what to do' attitude emerged, so I bowed out.  Our nationalism is another area that is misunderstood, so to explain that a bit as we grow up, every single day at school we had to stand with our hands on our hearts and recite 'The Pledge of Allegiance' and then, THEN, had to sing 'My Country Tis of Thee' to the tune of God save the Queen!  Haha, irony, yes, we do understand it.  But It reinforced our freedoms which are articulated in the Constitution's 'Bill of Rights' which includes freedom to defend ourselves.  Sure, we are big, brash, capitalistic, but the people are friendly, generous, some ill informed, but mostly hard workers who love our country.

One problem with yank gun laws, is that Its the normall law following
Joe Public that Get the rough end Of the situation.

The crinimals who seem to run around shooting each other dont give two
Fcuks.Take the Black parts Of yank citys or towns ,Its normall for them to carry a gun as they know no different.its what they have Been brought up
With .

All This b*llocks about This mike Brown case .the Police man did what he  had to do as he felt for his safety .how many times have policemen Been killed while on duty in USA .

The media in america are trying to make This mike Brown case a racist
sideshow ,what a load Of bullshit as said mike Brown had committed
an robbery caught on cctv only an hour before he was shot dead.

Whenever a Black man shots dead or kills a white man there is never a massive outcry from Public or medias .never deemed racist or
Neighbour hoods  go up in flames with whites looting the shops.

[Sandy Lane]

Oslo, I think being a police officer is probably one of the most dangerous jobs you can have and I have much respect for many of them.   But with Michael Brown, the problem was the use of both racial profiling and excessive force by the police. What stands out for me is the fact that Ferguson has a virtually all white police force in a city which is virtually all black.  The city government is mostly white and the perception is that black lives don't matter as much as white lives.  In this case there were no guns displayed by Brown or his friend, yet they were persued with shots being fired.  The officers were also aware they had just stolen something from a convenience store, all without a gun.

Then after the shooting a grand jury was called (to see if there was enough evidence to bring the police officer to trial), and their process was changed in ways to manipulate the jury- no formal charges were specified against the officer, they tried many, many witnesses, along with allowing the officer himself to testify, which are huge changes from the normal way grand jury trials are done.  There are many others changes if you read the article from the New York Times, which explains it better than I can, below.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html?_r=1

It's a scenario that is repeatedly continually around the country in predominately black areas, and black people know that someday it may be them or their loved ones who are on the receiving end of an over-zealous white officer's gun.

[Dagenham Rover]

That NYT article makes some very interesting reading!

[not on facebook]

It seems another Black man has Been killed Across the pond after Police Tried to arrest him for whatever previous offence.

A Police officer felt the need to use a choke hold as the person was not
giving up without a fight.

Now People are out on street saying Police were racist since it was a white
Police officer doing the choke hold as Victim was say "i Cant Breath"

Every action has a reaction and the Blackman should have not Tried to prevent his arrest.he broke the law and When it came to Been cuffed up
He Tried his hardest not to be put into cuffs.he then dies during the process .

How can the  Police be Deemed racist ,was they supposed to let the crim walk the streets because he fought back?

Like fcuk ,Its the blackmans fault for not taking an Easy arrest.

[bobjimwilly]

For decades, if not longer, racism was rife throughout American police departments, and so it will take decades for African Americans to accept it has been wiped out, if indeed it has been.

[RobTheRover]

It seems another Black man has Been killed Across the pond after Police Tried to arrest him for whatever previous offence.

A Police officer felt the need to use a choke hold as the person was not
giving up without a fight.

Now People are out on street saying Police were racist since it was a white
Police officer doing the choke hold as Victim was say "i Cant Breath"

Every action has a reaction and the Blackman should have not Tried to prevent his arrest.he broke the law and When it came to Been cuffed up
He Tried his hardest not to be put into cuffs.he then dies during the process .

How can the  Police be Deemed racist ,was they supposed to let the crim walk the streets because he fought back?

Like fcuk ,Its the blackmans fault for not taking an Easy arrest.

Oslo, Eric Garner had done nothing wrong when he was challenged by police.  He had actually broken up a fight.  According to reports he had been arrested previously for selling cheap ciggies on the street and so was known to local police.  If you actually watch the video he is asking reasonable questions about why he is being arrested.

All very sad and completely avoidable.  The key thing now is how police seem immune to prosecution following these deaths.