for purposes of clarification, I didn& #39;t say the cop solidarity gestures were sincere (certainly all of them weren& #39;t), I just think it doesn& #39;t matter much since either way, this kind of thing is so unusual it& #39;s a sign of a system starting to break down. 1/

I& #39;ve been facing off vs cops for more than 20 years now, & know 1. cops personally HATE anti-cop protests, 2. cops are almost never ordered to express solidarity with protests they despise, if that& #39;s what& #39;s happening, someone must be worried about total loss of control 2/

as individuals, the vast majority of cops are assholes, & typically, chosen & trained to be capable of killing & maiming their fellow citizens or at least supporting colleagues who do. That& #39;s why most regimes hesitate to call in the army: the army is more likely to defect 3/

fwiw they tend to be so cynical they know they& #39;re fighting for the wrong side. I remember during an OWS eviction asking a line of riot cops "how do you feel about being the bad guys?" One beefy guy actually said "you know it used to bother me but I& #39;ve come to terms with it." 4/

so some are personally conflicted, but follow orders so it doesn& #39;t matter at all. Only makes a difference if: 1. commanders in the filed might go lighter on direct action by a group they like (i.e., a labour union), way harsher on say, anti-cop protests 5/