It’s the Wednesday edition of your open thread. Today, UI is in Canada so you’ll have to play without supervision. Please follow the Golden Rule.
The U.K. released a report on the “Bloody Sunday” incident of 1972. The report was 12 years in the making, and found that the killings were unjustfied.
The British army at the time said its soldiers had been fired upon and were only defending themselves when they shot at protesters. The families of those killed have always insisted they were innocent victims.
None of the victims were armed and some were shot in the back trying to get away.
“What happened on Bloody Sunday strengthened the Provisional IRA, increased nationalist resentment and hostility towards the army and exacerbated the violent conflict of the years that followed,” the report said. “Bloody Sunday was a tragedy for the bereaved and the wounded, and a catastrophe for the people of Northern Ireland.”
Speaking in the British Parliament in London, Cameron offered an apology for the actions.
“What happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong,” he said.
I’m not used to conservatives that apologize. Someday I hope that we’ll have a report on the history of this era.
America’s Craziest CongressmanTM, Iowa’s Steve King, is back with more of his wisdom. This time he’s the immigrant whisperer:
Last night, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) took to the House floor to defend Arizona’s new anti-immigration law against concerns that it will lead to racial profiling. During his speech, the Iowa congressman reiterated his belief that racial profiling is an “important component” of law enforcement, as long as it’s not used “for the reasons of discriminating against people.” Then, he told a story about how he was profiled by a taxi driver who suspected that he needed a ride, saying that Arizona officers can also target illegal immigrants using other factors — like “what kind of shoes people wear” and “a sixth sense.”
KING: Some claim that the Arizona law will bring about racial discrimination profiling. First let me say, Mr. Speaker, that profiling has always been an important component of legitimate law enforcement. If you can’t profile someone, you can’t use those common sense indicators that are before your very eyes. Now, I think it’s wrong to use racial profiling for the reasons of discriminating against people, but it’s not wrong to use race or other indicators for the sake of identifying that are violating the law. […]
It’s just a common sense thing. Law enforcement needs to use common sense indicators. Those common sense indicators are all kinds of things, from what kind of clothes people wear – my suit in my case – what kind of shoes people wear, what kind of accident [sic] they have, um, the, the type of grooming they might have, there’re, there’re all kinds of indicators there and sometimes it’s just a sixth sense and they can’t put their finger on it. But these law enforcement officers, if they were going to be discriminating against people on the sole basis of race, singling people out, that’d be going on already.
Crazy Congressman is crazy, yet somehow people still vote for him. I guess there’s something to be said for confident & crazy.
Bonus link (subscription needed): Jamie Rubin offers a defense of Obama’s foreign policy.