There was a time, not so long ago, when I would have said this was the right response. That was before police misconduct -- and public officials' cowardly response to it -- became so egregious that even comfortable middle-class white people like me had to pay attention. https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/1279199219614543872

The result was massive protests -- met by a horrendously violent response that is the very opposite of "crowd control." Its purpose is not maintaining civil order. It's a raw expression of power, with vocal and unambiguous contempt for civil liberties.

In that context, the "can't we all get along" response is too little, too late. It may have been too little, too late even when Rodney King voiced it many years ago. But it certainly is now. Because things have only gotten worse since then.

I'm not a fan of simplistic "zero tolerance" responses to bad behavior. But this bad behavior is contempt for the rule of law by the armed agents of the state, repeatedly expressed. Not just by individuals, but collectively, as a shared value.

"Zero tolerance" is now the only way we can make police officers understand that they have collectively crossed the line. Failure to communicate this guarantees that things will get even worse.

These officers need to be made an example of. Their careers need to be over.

Does this sound extreme? It was just a cuss word, after all. No violence, no unlawful arrest, nobody went to the hospital with a "less lethal" wound.

But these are just the basic standards of their profession. They don't deserve a pat on the head for following them.

And consider, for a moment, what might have happened if that barista had not been intimidated by the uniform, the gun, and the swagger. This is not fundamentally different from a riot cop saying, "Put away that camera and get off my street or I'll shoot you in the face."

So fire them. Fire every cop who has demonstrated moral and professional incompetence. If the review process, notoriously stacked in their favor, re-instates them, ignore it. If they sue, appeal all the way to the supremes.

An extreme response? Not when a substantial chunk of America wants to fire every single cop and not replace them. I think I'm actually being pretty moderate.

(end of rant)