Lockdown

I was half paying attention to this story of how the Baltimore cops essentially turned a Baltimore neighborhood into a wartime military state after a cop was killed. It sounded odd and excessive even by the standards of these things. It had a certain theatricality to it, in that police actions didn't quite make sense, even if "intimidating the locals for shits and giggles" was the entire sense.

As police cars lined the perimeter of Harlem Park for days, residents were unable to enter their neighborhoods without showing IDs. Some complained about helicopters flying above their homes, flashing lights from police cars, and being subject to harassment and pat-down searches. Non-residents were barred from entering. On social media, many called to #FreeWestBaltimore.

And then the twist.

A spokesperson for the current U.S. Attorney for Maryland told The Intercept on Monday that they could not comment on whether or not Suiter was planning on testifying in their case. But on Wednesday evening, Commissioner Davis confirmed that Suiter was in fact set to testify before a grand jury that Friday, two days after his murder. He also said that Suiter appeared to have been killed by his own weapon after a struggle.

The grand jury was about a corrupt cop investigation. So there's a reasonable chance this blue life didn't matter much to the other blue lives, and they were gonna pin it on the black lives who of course don't matter.