I received this interesting and thought-provoking email from my friend Alan (bold added): It seems to me that if Zimmerman is convicted of a felony, then the Florida laws are apparently defensible. Sure, a guy is allowed to shoot someone in certain circumstances; in this case such circumstances did not present and so he’s going…
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Prof. Carl Hart on modern reefer madness: Harry J. Anslinger, commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (predecessor of the Drug Enforcement Administration) declared, “Marijuana is the most violence-causing drug in the history of mankind.” Seven decades and hundreds of studies later, we no longer have an excuse for indulging the myth of “reefer madness.”…
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Just strolling around Oakland at midnight, as you do. Notice the cop car crashing into the donut O. As I took this picture a man stopped, looked at me, and said sternly… “Don’t miss the giant owl across the street.” I didn’t. It was big. But too big for a good picture with a phone…
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If you care about the militarization of police, and Radley Balko makes a strong case you should, read his “fascinating and sometimes terrifying” Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces. That quote is mine. And you can find them in the July/August issue of Pacific Standard, a great new (to me)…
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The questioneverybody is asking, for sure. I don’t even know, when is the cheapest time to buy crabs? Clearly not this week. (if you click on the link, you can see the crabs are still alive, which is pretty amazing for a cooked crab!)
I’ll be gracing the ever-mysterious world of Second Life again tonight. It’s a nice long-form discussion. And you can listen in in your first life as well. Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd. Tonight at 9pm, New York time. It’s about the militarization of police.
As usual David Simon makes a lot of sense. But what I don’t understand, and what bothers me most about the whole deal, is why it had to be a secret. If this were really a “healthy” discussion we should be having, then why did it take a whistleblower to start it? hard to imagine…
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LEAP and Vice. Together at last.
“The years between 2000 and 2010 do not simply constitute a war on marijuana, but a war on black people who use marijuana.” Well said, Ta-Nehisi Coates.
A contributing factor to declining homicide. Some more details about what’s gotten better about medical treatment over the past decade. In the BBC.