Year: 2011

Really?

Generally I support the goals of prison reformers. Prisons are not supposed to be torture chambers that destroy the lives of all who enter. So I support efforts to make them better. But in my book I compare that to asking for comfier seats on the train to Auschwitz. It’s kind of missing the big…
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Research Methods

“Come now, E.B.! It’s time for us to venture out and continue our study of early 21st century society…” “Aww. Can’t we just stay in and do our research online?” “I’m afraid not… to truly understand a people and culture, we must walk among them! Document their daily routines and observe them in direct face…
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Retribution on Bernie Madoff

The New York Timeshas an article about the absurd sentence (150 years) Madoff received. Why is absurd? Not because he doesn’t deserve it. It’s absurd because Madoff was then 71 years old! Seems to me a good defense of flogging: Judge Chin’s recollections resurrect all the anger, shock and confusion that surrounded Mr. Madoff’s crimes,…
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Don’t “Come Here!”

One cop I worked with would constantly get into foot pursuits. For the rest of us, it was kind of annoying, especially for those of us who hated running. What frustrated me was that these pursuits were entirely preventable. The problem was this officer would see a kid he wanted to stop and say, “Come…
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“Whoop whoop whoop”

That’s the bullshit detector going off after seeing this: Expert: 40,000 – 50,000 slaves currently in U.S. How much you wanna bet he just made up that number? Being exploited for cheap labor does not automatically mean you’re a slave. Have we forgotten what slavery was?

You live a jackass, you die a jackass

“Police: ‘Jackass’ star Ryan Dunn was drunk and driving over 132 mph.” I guess it’s not surprising. But it is sad. I love Jackass!

Kill Kill Kill (part 2)

The decisionjust seems to be just a general free-speech issue. They compare video games to books: Reading Dante is unquestionably more cultured and intellectually edifying than playing Mortal Kombat. But these cultural and intellectual differences are not constitutional ones. Just because there’s a new media doesn’t mean there’s a new exception to be carved out…
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Three Cheers for Chicago Police Supt. McCarthy

Here’s the story with the video. Here’s the story about the inevitable backlash to anybody who talks about the harms that guns cause to people in our cities. They tend to be ad hominem. Kudos for not being afraid to talk about race. Yes folks, racism used to not only be legal, but mandatory. And…
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History of bike cops in NYC?

I got this query and and would be curious to learn the answer: I’m working on a story on the history of police riding bikes in New York City…. I’m looking to explore when the NYPD used bikes as transportation, why they did, and how their utilization has changed over time as policing strategies/ideologies have…
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Kill kill kill

If the state can censor sexfrom the eyes of children, why can it not censer violence? Isn’t sex better than violence? It certainly is more fun. I guess I’ll have to read the Supreme Court’s decision… And consider this: perhaps the more violent video games of the past few decades have actually contributed to the…
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