July 2009
19 posts
A more serious note
I got a call this morning from a Montana phone number that my cell phone didn’t recognize. I was working and let it go to voice mail. About an hour ago I remembered getting the call and listened to the voice mail.
It was a message from a guy I went to Willamette with, Ward Hiesterman, who went on the year abroad in Munich with me and was a roommate for part of our senior year (along with...
2 tags
“Here it is, a fascinating glimpse into the actual attitudes and beliefs of a...”
– Sullivan, The Id Of The Fox Right.
This letter from police officer Justin Barrett is a must-read. The fact that the man who wrote the letter to the Globe reporter is a sworn law enforcement officer is terrifying, but, as Sullivan notes, it’s a very informative window into one mindset at...
Police to release results of internal... →
Mobile Alabama police pepper sprayed and tasered a deaf and mentally disabled man in order to remove him from the bathroom of a retail store. Then they “attempted to book him on resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer.” The suspect/target/victim was a black man.
Now let me propose: if it had been “regular” citizens — a gang, a group...
“I’m sort of reminded why you just don’t want to get into a...”
– Josh Marshall, in No Secret Signals in Your Dental Work, commenting on the birther movement, or “BM” for short.
Okay, just one more followup...
… Because I’m that obsessed.
Hitch and Balko agree with me. The issue is (misuse of) police power. Period.
A final word on the Gates arrest
Read “Police Discretion: A Different Perspective”. It was written by a NYPD officer and it changed the tenor of my thoughts on this issue (although my stance on the castle doctrine remains intact). And after reading Officer Crowley’s police report on the incident I think Gates was being an asshole (though, of course, assholes are still entitled to their rights). I more or less...
“When we think about the cops, it’s scary, on one level, to conclude that a...”
– Ta-Nehisi Coates, Where It All Leaves Us. More smart words about police power, race, and society in America. He’s right: as scary as it is to think that some cop having a bad day can ruin your life — it’s scarier still to think that there are whole constituencies — even...
The Way We Get By →
Must see this movie.
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“And, while I realize there are all sorts of issues of race tied up in the Gates...”
– Jason Zengerle, Race, Power, and the Law on Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s arrest for disorderly conduct after being contacted by Cambridge police for appearing to break into his own home. The commentary by Zengerle is the best I’ve read on this incident, because it deals with the...
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“Getting your daily dose is even easier now, since Iulia and Natasha have set up...”
– Fake Steve’s blog sidebar, titled “Get your fix delivered.” (Emphasis added.)
How can a fake guy give you so much of the real deal? I guess people have been asking that about John Stewart lately too.
“Don’t kid yourself. Little is relevant, and nothing lasts forever.”
– Fortune (via slashdot). Quote for the day.
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“In 1956, Ernest and I were having lunch at the Ritz in Paris with Charles Ritz,...”
– A. E. Hotchner “Don’t Touch ‘A Moveable Feast’”. A Moveable Feast is one of my favorites of Hemingway’s, and possibly the best thing I read (in English) while I was living in Germany. Reading it, combined with learning about the art scene in of that time and place, made me...
"I am a prosecutor. Ask Me Anything" →
Another reason why I love reddit. Someone made a subreddit called “I Am A” where people post comment threads to answer questions about themselves. Of course, as the saying goes, “On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog” — and there’s no way to know if this person’s a legit Assistant DA, but the discussion was interesting. Reddit really is a giant,...
Brooks: In Search of Dignity →
Sometimes I disagree with David Brooks a lot, and most of the time I ignore him. But the more I reflect on this op-ed piece on “dignity in American life,” the more I think it’s a timely and sharp piece of criticism.
Joe Bowman, 84, Sharpshooter, RIP: “In one... →
*boggle*.
“‘In Alaska,’ Ross told me, ‘a liberal is someone who carries a...”
– Wayne Anthony Ross, quoted by Todd S. Purdum in his article on Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair. Just one of the many gems in the piece. It truly illustrates what a horror-show the tin-eared, tinpot tzarina is — and so fitting that an article on Palin should be published in a magazine with the word...
