This is quite late … but, trying to get it up before I gat any more behind.
Glenn Kirschner catchup – DC Court Makes it Easier to Jail Insurrectionists Pending Trial; Prosecutors Hint at New Conspiracy (535 defendants. Where have I heard that number before? Gotta be a coincidence.)
Glenn Kirschner – Trump’s Frivolous Lawsuit Against Twitter/Google/Facebook Will Be Dismissed. But 1st, a Deposition?
Meidas Touch – Former SDNY Asst. US Attorney Explains Why Trump Just Incriminated Himself
The Lincoln Project – Toyota
Thom Hartmann – What Happens When the GOP Flips an Election?
Keith Olbermann – Olbermann VS. Trump: It’s not that he praised Hitler in 2018, it’s why was John Kelly “stunned”?
Beau – Let’s talk about sympathy for Republicans…. (Good advice. Too bad it will fall on deaf ears – if it even gets that far.)
The recent conviction of Derek Chauvin could be a turning point in how this country handles law enforcement. Ever since Floyd’s tragic, needless death last year, people of all colors have been marching in the street, shouting “Black lives matter!” and putting the slogan on display. The Floyd case was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Anger over white cops unjustly killing people of color finally reached the boiling point.
One crusade currently underway is “defund the police.” The intent is to reduce spending on police departments – as well as end militarization of police – and divert those monies to community services that will ease the burden currently on blue shoulders. The problem with “defund the police” is it sounds as though people are calling for the abolition of police departments. That would be a mistake – a BIG mistake – because, like it or not, we need law enforcement. Conservative pundits are using the phrase as a weapon against BLM and other progressive/liberal movements, claiming that left-wingers all hate police.
The real problem isn’t rotten cops. The real problem is the foundation on which police departments in this country have been built. Our police departments grew out of vigilante organizations that hunted down runaway slaves before the Civil War and intimidated people of color afterwards. Long after the Civil Rights movement, that undercurrent of “keeping the n****rs in their place” still runs through U.S. constabularies today.
Police officers have a tough and often under-appreciated job. They feel a great deal of pressure to perform well – not so much from civilians as from their fellow officers. All too often, people who try to be good cops, to truly protect and serve, find themselves ostracized by their fellow officers. Qualified immunity and the police code of silence allow corruption, as well as racism and other forms of bigotry, to flourish behind the badge. Increase militarization of police forces makes them less guardians of public safety and maintainers of order, and more brutal oppressors.
Police and their defenders talk about the “thin blue line” between an orderly society and anarchic chaos. These people mean well, and like it or not they do have a point – but they are out of touch with reality. Knee-jerk defenders of the police are largely white and well-off so they don’t have to worry about police brutality. They don’t have to worry about being pulled over or shot because they have the “wrong” skin color.
Training of police officers is one thing that definitely needs to be overhauled. Barbers must go through more hours of training than cops. Seriously? Cutting hair is more involved than protecting the public? Also, police training does not include enough de-escalation or non-lethal techniques, which would prevent a lot of tragedies.
“Defund the police” does not mean getting rid of police departments – it actually means less money for police departments and more for public programs that will take many burdens off the shoulders of cops. More funding of mental health care, and training and providing people who can handle mental health intervention, means that civilians can call these specialists instead of the police; not only is there far less chance of a tragic outcome, but the cops can focus on doing what cops are supposed to do.
Many ways to improve our society will have an indirect positive impact on police. More affordable housing means fewer homeless people. Paying everybody a living wage makes crime less tempting. Access to affordable health care, including mental health, means that cops don’t have to intervene when the neighborhood wacko runs amok for the umpteenth time. Legalizing, or at least decriminalizing, street drugs reduces officers’ workload.
Newark, NJ completely revamped its police department after an investigation in July of 2014 revealed a “pattern and practice of unconstitutional policing.” The city tore down its police department completely and built a new one from the ground up. The result? There was not one police-involved shooting in the city in 2020. Not one. NOT ONE. Granted, a lot of people were staying inside due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, remember that there were plenty of shootings by police that year, as well as numerous acts of police brutality, including the death of George Floyd.
If Newark can do it, so can your city. So can Chicago. So can New York City. So can Los Angeles. So can Houston. So can Atlanta. So can Detroit. So can Kansas City. So can Seattle. So can Wichita. So can your home city. Reforming the police is the best way, and probably the only way, to restore public confidence in law enforcement.
Yesterday I rematked that no tech had showed on Thursday. Shortly after that happened, my internet also died, so I had no phone, no internet. I had just managed to pre-post and schedule Friday’s Open Thread, and that was it. I could neither research or post. I had had my inbox open, so it did refresh a few stray times, and I was able to see an email confirming my new appointment, but couldn’t get into it. So after spending a long day Thursday, I had to spend another one Friday with no communication. I spent some of it checking the modem and the cables to no avail, and more trying to set up WiFi on either of them, also with no luck. By the time the end of their appoitment window rolled around, I was exhausetd. I went to bed early and slept 12 hours. When I got up and went to my desktop to try to find a phone number, and turned on the computer – the internet light on the modem lighted up – and I tried for internet – and behold, it’s back. So is the phone!
I wasn’t able to research any more than I could posr while it was down, so I have nothing, and I get my second shot today, and have things to do before that happens. So I’ll be posting late if at all today. But I’m back, and even sort of rested (the quality of sleep when one is under stress isn’t the best, but at least I got it.) Expect me when you see me.
It all began when Gov. Kristi Gnome (R-SD) posted a pouting 4th of July Tweet whining that “Sparklers Suck” because fireworks were not allowed at Mount Rushmore this year because of the high risk of wildfires from the drought
(OK – I’ll note that she seems to prefer spelling her surname N-o-e-m.)
You know what really sucks? Forest fires really suck!
These are all photos from fires — Black Hills, Custer, Hill City, Mount Rushmore, Schroeder, Storm Hill, Vineyard, Wanblee and White Draw — in YOUR state!
Then I got to thinking, I bet there are some pretty cool alternatives to fireworks. So I started looking, and found a few examples of drones being used for light shows.
I’ll start with the best one I found from the USA: It was created by Intel, so it has a little commercial flavor to it.
(If you want to decrease the viewing time and really not lose much effect, on YouTube, click the cogwheel down at the lower right – and then select “Playback Speed” to select different options if you want it faster or slower. I tried all the videos at double speed, and I don’t think it lost a thing.)
Greenpeace created a well-done display with a message for world leaders when they arrived in Cornwall, UK on June 11, 2021:
The world’s record for the longest drone light show tells the story of Vincent Van Gogh’s life, and lasted for 26 minutes. (And yes, they included a little bit about cutting his ear off.)
BUT the YouTube presentation was sped up to almost 4 times normal speed – and I increased the playback speed on YouTube to twice that. And it did not suffer one bit.
There was a clever drone light show introduction of an online game that ended with the drones forming a scannable QR code enabling folks to download the game.
But for a true “WOW!” factor, it seems China is the hands-down winner:
This year there were a number of cities that opted for a drone light show instead of fireworks – including Cincinnati, Rochester NY, Richland Hills area in Texas, Tusayan AZ, Texas A&M University, and even Macy’s included a drone light show as part of its NYC spectacular display. (St. Petersburg FL was going to, but hurricane Elsa forced a cancellation.)
But unfortunately, drone light shows are NOT cheap. And it requires 2-3 months lead time to create and will last about 5 to 10 minutes. Here’s the pricing guidelines for an Intel produced show:
For reference, a small-town 4th of July fireworks display will run $2k to $7k just for the fireworks (not counting setup, fencing, insurance, etc.). Disneyworld’s nightly firework display runs $33k.
Still, they offer a safe program with lots more options than a fireworks display.
OK, no tech, so no phone. At least it’s quiet this way. I have a new repair ticket but no date. they will contact me the day before How, I asked? Well, email, if that’s all that’s available. (At least no one has tried to text to my landline yet tht I know of.)
Cartoon – Something I didn’t know … and not exactly as one would expect.
Short Takes –
Eight Takeaways From ProPublica’s Investigation of How Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Taxes
1. Billionaire team owners often pay lower federal income tax rates than their millionaire players — and sometimes even lower rates than low-paid stadium workers.
2. The tax rates for team owners are so low, in part, because the tax code allows them to write off almost the entire purchase price of their teams, a system experts say is detached from economic reality. This is called “amortization.”
3. Owners across the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB reported incomes for their teams that are millions below their real-world earnings, according to ProPublica’s review of tax information, previously leaked team financial records and interviews with experts.
4. These amortization benefits allow team owners to transform real-world profits into losses for tax purposes, allowing them to avoid taxes not just on their team profits, but also on income from other ventures.
5. The losses team owners get to report because of their stakes in pro sports teams allow them to dramatically reduce their personal tax bills.
6. Even the team owner who pioneered the depreciation of player contracts in the mid-20th century called the maneuver a “gimmick.”
7. The tax code has evolved to allow team owners to write off a wide variety of assets beyond just player contracts.
8. Advocates for team owners point out that when owners sell their teams, they have to pay back the taxes they avoided by using amortization. The reality is more complicated. Click through for explanations if you’re up to it. I love the expression in #7 “The tax code has evolved.” That, I think, is on Congress.
The Hill – Trump-allied GOP [state] chairs turn on fellow Republicans
Quote – For most of modern political history, a state party chair’s role has been confined to raising money and building an organization that can contact voters and elect candidates. Their job is much more often to promote those who win primaries than to wade in on behalf of a specific contender during those primaries. But in the age of Trump, some party leaders are as eager to talk about the perceived turncoats within their own ranks as they are to go after the opposition party. Click through for detailed examples. It’s hard to say where this is going to go. My prayer would be that it takes us to a point where there is not enough gerrymandering in the world for Republicans tt take the House and Senate in 2022. But that’s just a hope. We have work in front of us.
Political Discrimination as Civil-Rights Struggle
Quote – This reveals the predilection among many young elite Americans for progressive authoritarianism, a belief system that justifies infringing rights to equal treatment or free speech in the name of the emotional “safety” of historically marginalized race, gender, and sexuality groups. In this left-modernist worldview, conservatives’ resistance to racial, gender, and sexual progressivism mark them as moral deviants. As Millennials take power, this generational earthquake is set to shake the foundations of the cultural elite to its core, leading to pervasive discrimination against, and censorship of, conservative views. Click through for the rest if your stomach is strong, or, I would personally suggest, here for Wonkette’s take
Yesterday was quiet enough – in fact it was significantly more quiet than usual because I now have no phone service at all on my land line … so no robocall rings. But the technician supposedly comes today. Hopefully that will provide resolution.
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
The Daily Beast – Opinion – Former Murdoch Exec: Fox News Is Poison For America
Quote – Fox News has caused many millions of Americans—most of them Republicans (as my wife and I were for 50 years)—to believe things that simply are not true. For example, Yahoo News reports that 73 percent of Republicans blame “left-wing protesters” for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Of course, that is ludicrous. All one has to do is look at the pictures or videos of the attack to see that the violent mob was comprised of Trump supporters. Similarly, a poll by SSRS in late April found that two-thirds of Republicans either believe or suspect that the election was stolen from Trump—60 percent saying there is “hard evidence” that the election was stolen. As noted above, this ridiculous notion has been thoroughly refuted. But millions of Americans believe these falsehoods because they have been drilled into their minds, night after night, by Fox News. Click through for more. This is a “Consider the source” story. This dude is in a position to know what he is talking about, even though he gives Rupert too much benefit of the doubt (reminds me of the KMart ads aimed at WalMart claiming Sam would have been ashamed. No, he wouldn’t have.)
The Hill – Eric Adams wins New York City mayoral primary
Quote – “Now we must focus on winning in November so that we can deliver on the promise of this great city for those who are struggling, who are underserved, and who are committed to a safe, fair, affordable future for all New Yorkers,” he said…. The race is the first in which the board sought to implement ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to list five candidates in order of preference. Click through for some details. I disn’t follow this race, but did follow the Manhattan DA Dem primary, which Alvin Bragg won.Hopefully they will work together well.
Reuters – Judge finds U.S. 60% responsible for 2017 Texas church mass shooting
Quote – In a decision released on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez said the Air Force did not use reasonable care when it failed to enter Devin Patrick Kelley’s plea to domestic violence charges in a database used for background checks for those buying firearms. Rodriguez said the government bore “significant responsibility” for harm to victims of the Nov. 5, 2017 massacre at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, 31 miles (50 km) east of San Antonio. Click through for background. Even if you remember it, it’s been a while, and a lot has happened in the meantime.
