The systems that protect bad police. www.nytimes.com/2020/06/0…
Conspiracy theories have been fundamental to American history since the Revolution. www.npr.org/2020/05/1…
George Will: ‘There is no such thing as rock bottom for Trump. Assume the worst is yet to come.’
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Those who think our unhinged president’s recent mania about a murder two decades ago that never happened represents his moral nadir have missed the lesson of his life: There is no such thing as rock bottom. So, assume that the worst is yet to come. Which implicates national security: Abroad, anti-Americanism sleeps lightly when it sleeps at all, and it is wide-awake as decent people judge our nation’s health by the character of those to whom power is entrusted.
KC Short, the Army veteran who organized Saturday’s protests in La Mesa, CA, the San Diego suburb where I live, said he does not condone the looting and rioting that escalated after the peaceful movement he planned. www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca…
Fans rally around Crazy Fred’s, a comic book store in the San Diego suburb La Mesa (where I live), which was looted in riots this weekend. www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca…
I shop in the Von’s supermarket in the same shopping center as Crazy Fred’s. I had forgotten the comic store was there.
Protesting is important, but it's not the hard thing, or the most important thing
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
To be honest, it’s not that hard to protest. It’s not that hard to go someplace. And it doesn’t mean that it’s not important. It doesn’t mean that it’s not critical. But that’s not the hard thing we need from people who care about these issues. We need people to vote, we need people to engage in policy reform and political reform, we need people to not tolerate the rhetoric of fear and anger that so many of our elected officials use to sustain power.
"It's enough to break a true patriot's heart"
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
I’m trying to understand why wearing a mask — which is meant only to protect the most vulnerable among us and slow the spread of the virus to everyone else — has become the political equivalent of wearing a bumper sticker on your face. It makes me weep to think about it: Our one ready-to-hand tool for getting this country back to normal as quickly and as safely as possible has become yet another symbol of the seemingly insurmountable schism between Americans.
Trump’s bailout czar makes out – how to stop police brutality
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
Today on Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic pluralistic.net/2020/06/0… Trump’s bailout czar, Justin Muzinich, responsible for trillions in bailout money, is getting rich sucking on the public tit. Democrats and Republicans alike love Muzinich because he talks like a grownup but doesn’t let that get in the way of thievery. === Big data shows which policies reduce police brutality: Training and bodycams don’t work. What does work? Demilitarizing police equipment, and predictive policing to identify abusive cops:
Protesters Dispersed With Tear Gas So Trump Could Pose at Church
Monday, June 1, 2020
Old Yellow Stain declared himself a friend to peaceful protesters, and then ordered in flash bang explosions and tear gas to disperse peaceful, lawful protesters so he could get a photo op in front of a church, waving a Bible. I’m just a nonobservant Jew but I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t say anything about flash bang explosions and tear gas. Correct me if I’m wrong? “He did not pray,” said Mariann E.
An American Uprising: Who, really, is the agitator here? – David Remnick at The New Yorker
Monday, June 1, 2020
He quotes AOC: “If you’re calling for an end to unrest, but not calling out police brutality, not calling for health care as a human right, not calling for an end to housing discrimination, all you’re asking for is the continuation of quiet oppression.” www.newyorker.com/news/dail…
In late 2001, after 9/11, I got in the habit of having my clock radio set to an all-news station to wake me up in the morning.
If the first words I heard were “Michael Jackson,” I knew there was no big news that morning. I could just shut off the radio. I didn’t have to rush to the Internet to find out what blew up. I could just get on with my wake-up routine.
There have been far too few Michael Jackson days this year..
While cowering in a bunker and doing nothing, President Tweetie demands other people get tough. www.cnn.com/2020/06/0…
@dave Winer compares Trump to Captain Queeg — Old Yellow Stain.
Hell yeah. Trump in the bunker with the White House lights off, muttering about the antifa – his stolen strawberries.
It’s like the scene at the end of The Stand, where Glen Bateman is in a prison cell, laughing about how foolish he feels to have been be afraid of Randal Flagg, who turned out to be just pathetic.
Let’s just leave Trump in his protective bunker until January, and shut off the Wi-Fi too.
Saturday after another night of rotten sleep I decided I need to minimize going on the Internet after dinner. I picked a bad day to start that.
Good morning! I spilled a little coffee on my hand this morning and the dog licked it off enthusiastically. That’s my girl!
She says she wants maybe a light roast next time.
Minneapolis has a deep history of police abuse and racism
Sunday, May 31, 2020
On Cory Doctorow’s Pluralistic.net: Minneapolis police have flouted reforms. “[P]olice union boss Lt Bob Kroll kept his job even after he showed up for work with a white power badge on his uniform.” And Amy Klobuchar declined to prosecute Derek Chauvin when she was the city’s top proseecutor, “giving him license to commit a string of crimes that culminated in the daylight murder of George Floyd” pluralistic.net/2020/05/3…
Looting and arson come close to home (but we’re fine)
Sunday, May 31, 2020
I slept in this morning, woke up a few minutes before 10 am and found my phone was lit up with messages from local friends. Last night there was looting and vandalism in La Mesa Village, about 2.5 miles from where we live. La Mesa, where we live, is a suburb of San Diego, about a dozen miles inland from the beaches. La Mesa Village is a few blocks of restaurants and antique stores and such.