DL Open Thread: Friday, August 6, 2021
…that’s a problem.’ Officer Michael Fanone, who suffered a heart attack on January 6, calling out those seeking to downplay the Insurrection.
Is The Gulf Stream Endangered? Yes. Somebody? Anybody?:
Such an event would have catastrophic consequences around the world, severely disrupting the monsoons that billions of people depend on for food in India, South America and West Africa; increasing storms and lowering temperatures in Europe; and pushing up the sea level in the eastern US. It would also further endanger the Amazon rainforest and Antarctic ice sheets.
An explanation:
The Gulf Stream is powered by varying densities of salt water. If you dump a lot of fresh water in at one end, say by melting Greenland, the salinity level drops and the imbalance that powers the Gulf Stream weakens. It has already started.
While We’re At It, We Need To Reduce Methane…Along With CO2. One great source of methane (along with cow farts?): Fracking. Methane is worse than coal, and is especially overutilized in Russia.
DOJ To Investigate Phoenix Police. They’ve also started investigations in Minneapolis and Louisville. Needless to say, such investigations had disappeared under the Former Guy. They’re known as ‘Pattern-Or-Practice’ investigations:
If an investigation reveals patterns or practices of unlawful policing, the division will seek to work with the
department, with input from community stakeholders, to effectively and sustainably remedy any unlawful practices.
This usually takes the form of a negotiated agreement that incorporates specific remedies and that becomes a federal
court order overseen by an independent monitor. If the division is unable to reach such a negotiated reform
agreement, then it has authority to initiate a lawsuit to secure reforms.
In all of the division’s cases, it endeavors to include remedies that form the foundation, in any law enforcement
agency, for policing that is consistently constitutional, as well as remedies that are carefully tailored to the specific
problems identified during the investigation.
The Department of Justice stays involved throughout the implementation of remedies to ensure that meaningful and
sustainable change occurs. This process typically takes years. Exactly how long it takes to depends upon a number of
factors including the commitment of local leadership to making changes.
The reform process initiated by a pattern-or-practice investigation can enable law enforcement agencies to remedy
identified problems; repair mistrust between the community and the police; and bring about policing that is lawful,
effective, and responsive to community needs. It can also help police officers, both by ensuring that they have the
policies and training they need to police safely and by helping to foster the community confidence they rely on in
performing their duties.
How The American Medical Association Partnered With Opioid Manufacturers. Yet doctors have largely skated over their outsized role in promoting painkillers. In fact, an AMA course argued that doctors were too tentative in prescribing opioids:
Instead, the 12-module training suggested that doctors were still too tentative about prescribing narcotics. “The effectiveness of opioid therapy may be undermined by misconceptions about their risks, particularly risks associated with abuse and addiction,” read materials from one session. The class includedideas like “pseudoaddiction,” referring to when pain patients seem “inappropriately drug seeking,” but aren’t truly addicted—rather, they just needed more pills.
For young children who were unable to verbalize their pain, materials encouraged prescribers to use the “Poker Chip Tool”: lay out four poker chips in front of a child, explain that the chips are “pieces of hurt,” and ask how many pieces of hurt the child has. The course instructs, “Do not give children an option for zero hurt.” (Mighty nice of them.)
Thousands of physicians took the course, which was first released in 2003 and updated periodically over the next decade. Recently, I asked Dr. Roneet Lev, chief medical officer to the Office of National Drug Control Policy from 2018 to 2020, to take a look at the modules. She concluded, “I would call this ‘How to Create an Addict’ education.”
Did I mention a partnership?:
Perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise: Down in the fine print, the AMA-branded course materials reveal that the training’s development and distribution was made possible by an educational grant from Purdue Pharma.
DSU To Acquire New Facility On The Riverfront. While the skeptic in me views this with some suspicion, the idea of the expansion of a true state university makes me happy.
Opinion: Invest In Wilmington’s Neighborhoods. Couldn’t agree more.
What do you want to talk about?
Re: Wilmington neighborhoods.
How long are we going to pretend Wilmington’s problems can be traced to I-95, rather than tracing it to the expenditure of nearly a half-billion dollars on the Riverfront? If someone wanted to do actual journalism over at TNJ, they might tote up how much tax revenue has been generated by that expenditure. I guarantee it will not come close to a half-billion dollars.
when will they add the denver police department to that list?
Suspect nearly all Big City police departments need a review, NYC and Baltimore come to mind. I stand as a union man unto the day I die, but the police unions are a vile perversion of what a union should be.
Don’t forget Portland. Those kops still think they’re beating up hippies from the ’60’s.
Cop unions are brought in to beat on and bust up other unions. Bust the Blue
Coons is immune to pressure (calls) from the left. Sure I could call his office and pressure him to support filibuster reform and tax increases on the rich, or… or else what? Coons knows that as long as Senate control hangs in the balance, critics on the left are going to keep voting for him.
His opponents are so weak that I don’t have to bother to vote for him, he’ll get re-elected anyway. So I don’t.
I used to leave the Coons and Carper line blank when voting. It made me feel better but had no other discernible effect. I concluded I was just virtue signaling to myself – pure moral posturing. Now I vote the straight Dem ticket and hold my nose when I click Carper and Coons. That’s my current line of thinking anyway, my mind can be changed. I’ll vote for their opponents in a primary though.
There’s a value in leaving them blank. Political types notice when any given candidate does not match the total number of Democratic votes. So if Coons has, say 20,000 fewer votes than other top-of-ticket Democrats, it sends a message that he gets.
Coons is nowhere near as popular as Carper. He should be targeted.