I like Obama (as do most Americans). And I know he couldn’t win over all cops with his speech in Dallas at the memorial for Officers Zamarippa, Ahrens, Krol, Smith, and Thompson. I knew, and this turned out to be correct, that even before the speech was done Obama haters would find a line or…
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I wrote thislast night for CNN, about the massacre in Dallas: Words have the power to inspire, inflame, provoke. Or else we wouldn’t say them. When words inspire others to kill, however deranged those others might be, we must see the consequences. When those on the political right speak against immigrants, Muslims or abortion, those…
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This police-involved shooting is bad. And unlike the killing of Alton Sterling in Louisiana, I’m willing to call this one before the polls have closed. This more recent shooting in Falcon Heights, Minnesota reminded me of Joseph Schultz. Schultz, you probably don’t remember because you’ve never heard of him, got shot in the face in…
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Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police yesterday. Maybe you’ve watched the video. I have. And I’ll tell you what: Other than a tussle and Sterling being shot, I have no friggin’ clue what is going on. And I’m what they call a so-called “expert” on these things. So I really don’t know how…
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Last night a police captain said: I’m in the Department and had better keep my mouth shut. But I must candidly say that I have never known the Police Department to be in such a bad state as it is it right now. One day we receive one imperative order, and on the next another…
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Shane Bauer researched and wrote an amazingly important article for Mother Jones. (It’s a book really, at 35,000 words.) Bauer because a prison guard for a few months, took notes, and wrote about it. It can be that simple. You really should read all this. It’s gripping. And big props to Mother Jones for doing…
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The Chicago Tribune has an excellent articlethat starts on the West Side [2 miles from this house]: To understand Chicago’s violence, start at Kostner Avenue and Monroe Street and walk west up a one-way stretch of graystones and brick two-flats. There on a boarded-up front door you’ll see the red stain of gang graffiti. On…
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From my fellow Greek, Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine:
Yeah, I had never heard of him either. But apparently he was a big deal to a good number people in Baltimore. They liked his music. So what does he stand for? I don’t know. Google and read up if you want. What’s amazing is all the tears shed by some people who had never…
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The contrast between this well written piece about a murder victim in the Bronx and that BS pieceabout a murder in Baltimore is striking. Not surprisingly, Al Baker is on the byline of the good piece (Benjamin Meuller is first on the byline): Over nearly three decades, Mr. Perez held court on this block of…
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