Saturday Open Thread [7.9.2016]

Saturday Open Thread [7.9.2016]

8 Comments
Dallas police were doing everything right — and then the shooting started The Dallas PD have been doing the hard work to engage their communities, to up the training for officers (especially in de-escalation skills), be more open and less of an occupying army:
As the Dallas Morning News reported last year, Dallas police have shifted to a stronger focus on deescalation techniques since David Brown became police chief in 2010, with dramatic results. In 2009, there were 147 excessive force complaints against police officers; by 2014, those complaints dropped by 64 percent. And as of November, when the article was published, there had been just 13 such complaints in 2015.
Friday Open Thread [7.8.2016]

Friday Open Thread [7.8.2016]

5 Comments
This was all prepared in advance, but it shrinks and fades into specs of trivia and meaningless gossip in view of our ongoing inhumanity toward each other. I ask myself what I can do to try and stand up against a world that seems on a trajectory toward less decency and less humanity, and I come up empty.
Thursday Open Thread [7.7.2016]

Thursday Open Thread [7.7.2016]

51 Comments
Earlier this week, Alton Sterling was killed in front of a convenience store in Baton Rouge. There are two videos in the public domain for this one and there may be more. The owner of the store has been forthcoming about what he witnessed, which sure looks like a plain execution from here. The Justice Department and the FBI are investigation and kudos to the Governor of Louisiana for getting them involved so quickly. In the midst of the media reports of Sterling's previous run ins with the law, it seems that Sterling had a gun in his pocket. He was carrying a gun in an open-carry state.
Poll in the Field for Wilmington Mayoral Race!

Poll in the Field for Wilmington Mayoral Race!

8 Comments
I took a call this evening from Public Policy Polling who was conducting a poll on the Wilmington Mayoral Race. And I am excited to see the results -- if there is polling in Wilmington it is for candidates and I don't think this one was. Here are the questions asked: 1. Likelihood of voting (I answered very likely) 2. Read a list of candidates (in alphabetical order by last name), with instructions to push a number for the candidate you will vote for 3. Wilmington Right Track/Wrong Direction question

George Bush, Dick Cheney and Tony Blair are still at large

While we bicker over emails, it is easy to forget that real honest to goodness crimes on a massive scale were perpetrated by George Bush, Dick Cheney and Tony Blair. None of whom have seen the inside of a jail cell, and they never will.
The Chilcot Report on the UK invasion of Iraq has finally been released, seven years after it was announced, and many years after its completion (it was delayed for years over the release of government documents and memos that were contained in its pages).... One of the most damning soundbites from the report was a memo from Blair to GW Bush reading, "I will be with you whatever," which is a part of a series of communications between the two leaders in which they start from the conclusion that they want to invade Iraq and topple the Saddam Hussein government, and work backwards to figure out how to present the evidence that will make the case that they have no choice but to do this.