I'm Seeing Green

THE BAD APPLE REPORT FOR TODAY: “Wᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴊᴜsᴛ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ɢᴏ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴀɴᴅ sᴛᴀʀᴛ sʟᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇᴍ (ᴇxᴘʟᴇᴛɪᴠᴇ)” Bʟᴀᴄᴋs

Three North Carolina police officers were fired Tuesday after a sergeant's review of accidental video footage revealed they engaged in an "extremely racist" rant, according to The Charlotte Observer. Wilmington Police Chief Donny Williams identified the fired employees as Cpl. Jessie Moore and officers Brian Gilmore and Kevin Piner after the city council and city m…

ager cleared Williams to release details of the officers’ conversation.

 

Piner reportedly could be heard telling Moore that a civil war was coming and he was ready. Piner then said he planned to buy an assault rifle, and soon “we are just going to go out and start slaughtering them (expletive)” Blacks. “I can’t wait. God, I can’t wait,” he said.

Wᴇ Aʀᴇ Oɴ ᴛʜᴇ Vᴇʀɢᴇ ᴏꜰ Sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ Bɪɢ

 

This is the way to move forward, folks, not dissing Biden and threatening to throw your vote away. Granted, it seems to be confined mostly to New York districts, but expect it to grow nation-wide as more milquetoast Democrats are primaried and challenged.

 

Progressive Wave Sweeps NY Primary.

AOC Absolutely Crushes It..72%!

McGrath wins.

'Bowman Wins.

Mondaire Wins.

Pɪᴇᴄᴇᴍᴇᴀʟ Rᴇғᴏʀᴍ Wᴏɴ'ᴛ Cᴜᴛ Iᴛ

 

The movement to defund the police has basically the goal of eliminating the police as currently organized: a paramilitary force that sees itself as self-perpetuating, closed to oversight and against the rest of us.

 

Look at the piecemeal efforts to humanize the police happening across the country: Some ban chokeholds. Something called the carotid-atrery hold (what a disgustingly inhuman term,) has been banned in one place. Teargas against protesters has been banned by a few cities.

This is insane. It's using a peashooter when heavy artillery is needed. If you ban one specific thing, another will take its place.

It would be like if your office banned spitting. But do you need to be told that? Or, if yes, will you pee in the plants next because there isn't a proscription against that? No, because you are a normal, decent human being who adheres to social norms.

 

𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏'𝒕. Does any normal human being need to be told to stop someone from murder? Does any normal human being lie and cover up when their partner commits a crime? Does any other group hire people who've been dishonorably discharged from a similar group? And hide their record of crimes?

 

And that's why we need to totally eradicate the culture of policing in this country.

 

 

Only 25% of Americans think capitalism is good for society

I don't know whether to believe this, from a website I recently found, businessinsider.com, a weirdly non-conservative business-focused site. Has plenty of coverage on current affairs (Floyd, Biden,) and is quite even. They actually have a series of articles on "Better Capitalism," no BS, with sections on sustainability, worker benefits and businesses that actually help their employees weather the COVID crisis (gasp.) I think it's progress, though many a progressive would be dismissive.

The story of the headline is:

"In May, the Harris Poll and Just Capital, an independent research firm founded by the billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones, surveyed 1,000 people on their thoughts about capitalism amid the pandemic. Only 25% of respondents said they believed our current form of capitalism ensures the greater good of society.

For many this doesn't come as a surprise. Prominent voices ranging from a top Harvard economist [how coy, to not name Rebecca Henderson, author of "Reimagining Capitalism," who says the coronavirus pandemic is a turning point in the conversation surrounding capitalism,] to the billionaire hedge-fund manager Ray Dalio [supposedly sounding the alarm on income inequality in the US,] have warned that capitalism would soon face a crisis because of the massive inequality exposed by the pandemic.

Temporary hazard pay has shown how little grocery employees, food-delivery workers, and other essential workers are being paid (not to mention that many don't get health insurance). The national closure of childcare centers also laid bare the unpaid work women do in the household. Black people, specifically Black women, were most at risk of layoffs and furloughs, and were less likely to survive (pay for groceries or rent) without work, according to research from Lean In, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's nonprofit.

The crisis that business leaders have been warning about has arrived. Now the majority of Americans are calling for change, including paid sick leave and higher wages for frontline workers, the data shows."

https://www.businessinsider.com/capitalism-in-crisis-how-to-fix-capitalism-for-workers-2020-6

The Stupid Trope of a "Few Bad Apples"

Let us examine the oft-rendered excuse for cops acting badly (a poor euphemism for killing, brutalizing, insulting, being aggressive towards.) Every time there's an incident, there's never just one cop there. Two at a minimum, twenty or forty in the current unrest. The mayhem may be instigated by one (ooh...bad apple...) but it's condoned, excused, ignored and abetted by the others. So it's just "bad apples flock together?"...the "vast majority" of the rest of these souls are peaceably controlling demonstrators, taking a symbolic (sham?) knee, marching in a symbolic (sham?) walk?

As Chris Rock so succintly puts it, "Some jobs, everybody gotta be good. Like … pilots. Ya know, American Airlines can’t be like, 'Most of our pilots like to land. We just got a few bad apples that like to crash into mountains. Please bear with us.'"

Let's extend that. Some doctors are bad apples. You may die on the operating table; but that's OK...the vast majority of doctors are...

Some EMTs are bad apples, they may kill you by neglect when called on an emergency; but that's OK...the vast majority of EMTs are ...

Some babysitters are insane, and may throw your baby into the bathwater; but that's OK...the vast majority of babysitters are ...

Some plumbers are bad apples. They may hook up the sewer line to your kitchen faucet; but that's OK...the vast majority of plumbers. are ...

DO YOU SEE HOW FUCKING CRAZY THIS IS? There are some professions and avocations which demand total respect for the genre, total commitment to the job, total  requirement to never fucking up.In EVERY other case, the "bad apples" are treated with horror, as criminals.

And policing is one of them.

And, can you imagine your babysitter, who's just killed your child, being "investigated" for months while the DA decides whether or not to bring a case? Can you imagine that, if you shoot a terminally ill person, you could get off on the grounds that your action didn't kill the person, they died of their pre-existing condition (the possible defense in the Floyd case.)

Rock: https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/voices/culture/article/2020/06/01/clip-chris-rock-about-police-brutality-going-viral

Gᴇᴛ Aɴɢʀʏ --- Bᴇ Sᴀꜰᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ Cᴏʀᴏɴᴀ Vɪʀᴜs

The Inner Cambridge Social Sciences Institute has published an interesting study on the effects of anger on susceptibility to the novel corona-virus. In the report, recently out in the Journal of Epidemiologic Research, there appears to be a positive correlation between the state of anger or irascibility (not defined,) and reduced chance of being infected with the virus.

 

“We think the correlation is a variation on the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome, which causes the body to produce adrenaline, among other changes. A constant state of anger or irascibility causes hormonal changes, which seem to boost the immune system and help ward off the corona-virus,” said Dr. Pradeep Mithraleya, chief author, in an interview with NPR, “We have not studied whether this phenomenon affects the susceptibility towards other viruses or diseases.”

 

The takeaway from this may explain why the Red states, particularly those with strong support for President Trump, are seeing much lower incidence of corona-virus infections (in an unattributed comment, Dr. Mithraleya also mentioned lower cases in India, where a nascent level of anger towards the government is, pardon the pun, endemic, as supporting his thesis.) While the study initially mentioned this conclusion in the study, the journal requested it be deleted from the published version on the grounds that it was a political statement.

 

So…get your ire up!

Study at : http://cambridge.ssi.org/studies/04888-9993-w

Defunding the Police

On the surface, this might seem a ridiculous idea...who do we call in an emergency? But the idea behind this trope is that police are over-funded, over-militarized, and (paraphrasing the famous quote from WW-II Brits,) over here.

LA mayor has proposed a $100 million reduction in police funding, to go towards grass-roots community policing efforts. That's the kind of tiny reform we need, a small step. Another big one would be to unilaterally cancel all police union contracts on expiration and start from scratch (did you know that many contracts specify that a rogue officer's disciplinary record is expunged after 6 months?!)

An excellent article on how to curb police is in Forbes (!) : https://www.businessinsider.com/research-based-methods-of-reducing-police-violence-2020-6

Two things that don't work, according to research, are body cameras and "sensitivity" training. AUthors suggest more accountability and tracking of , restrictions on use of force, community policing, federal oversight (yeah, well, good luck on that.)

Even the right-wing Reason Institute weighs in: 'An important first step would be to get rid of the legal doctrine of "qualified immunity," under which law enforcement officers are immune from suits for violating citizens' constitutional rights unless the officers' actions violate "clearly established" law.'

From the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/04/defund-the-police-us-george-floyd-budgets

"The movement to defund the police is gaining significant support across America, including from elected leaders, as protests over the killing of George Floyd sweep the nation."

“To see legislators who aren’t even necessarily on the left supporting at least a significant decrease in New York police department [NYPD] funding is really very encouraging,” Julia Salazar, a New York state senator and Democratic socialist, told the Guardian on Tuesday. “It feels a little bit surreal.” 

Tʜᴇ Uɴʙᴇʟɪᴇᴠᴀʙʟᴇ Nᴇᴠᴇʀ Eɴᴅs

Trump used a military helicopter to harass protesters in DC, a tactic used in warzones to "disperse insurgents." Bad enough, but —"𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙍𝙚𝙙 𝘾𝙧𝙤𝙨𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨. Conducting an offensive operation with equipment identified with the symbol is a violation of the Geneva Conventions." It was "an inherently dangerous maneuver for even an experienced pilot—clipping a building or an unseen power line could cause the helicopter to crash into the crowd below."

.

Like anyone cares about global norms.

Pᴀᴜʟ Bᴜᴛʟᴇʀ ᴡʀᴏᴛᴇ "CʜᴏᴋᴇHᴏʟᴅ - Pᴏʟɪᴄɪɴɢ Bʟᴀᴄᴋ Mᴇn"

“𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘑𝘪𝘮 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘑𝘪𝘮 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘑𝘪𝘮 𝘊𝘳𝘰𝘸. 𝘐𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮- 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘸.”

 

From an interview with Butler:

https://www.vox.com/identities/2020/6/2/21276799/george-floyd-protest-criminal-justice-paul-butler

In Chokehold, I argue that people tend to see the problems between black people and police in four different ways. So really quickly, the first way is that the problem is black men. It’s the way that we perform masculinity. If we would just pull up our pants, we wouldn’t have to worry about being stopped and frisked. There are quite a lot of people who think that.

 

The second framing is that the problem is under-enforcement of law, not over-enforcement. That what the black community needs even more than other communities is law and order. So when police selectively enforce the law in those communities, it’s actually a kind of reparations, it’s a payback for the time when 911 was a joke. And my friends who are prosecutors and police officers of color, that’s what they say. They say, “Hell yeah, I’m tougher in the hood than I am in the suburbs, because that’s my community.” That’s how they think.

 

Then there’s what I’d call a more liberal framing, which focuses on the relationship between black people and cops, like the problem is that they’re in a bad marriage and they just need to understand each other. This was very much the approach of the Obama administration, emphasizing the need to bring people together alongside tangible reforms like more body cameras and better training.

 

The fourth way of thinking about the problem is the focus on white supremacy. This is the new Jim Crow idea. Here, what people suggest is that if you only work on the police, that’s treating the symptom. But the disease will metastasize. So in this telling, it started with slavery, went to the old Jim Crow, and now it’s the new Jim Crow, enforced via a racially biased criminal justice system. And so the only way things will truly get better is to crush white supremacy.