| Time |
Event |
| 6:48a |
Crime falling
*Crime in the US is once again falling. Can we rethink policing?*
Oakland, California, is an exception. Oakland's Operation Ceasefire
cut the murder rate by almost half, during 2012-2017, but then it was
altered and made ineffective; the murder rate almost to the previous
level.
It worked by identifying gang members who were likely to get involved
in deadly fights, then -- rather than repressing them -- making
relationships with them to lead them away from that danger.
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| 6:48a |
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| 6:48a |
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| 6:48a |
Vigilante justice threats
*As the election looms, we must be alert to [the insurrectionist's]
threats of vigilante justice.*
The insurrectionist has already bullied senators into voting not to
convict him of insurrection. Now his followers are threatening
judges. Next November he will surely launch his fanatics into bigger
violence. We must be ready to defeat it crushingly so that it cannot
try again.
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| 6:48a |
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| 6:48a |
Fictionalizing
On the ethical issues of fictionalizing parts of a movie which claims
to present true events.
It is impossible to recount history with perfect accuracy, no matter
how hard you work. Even for recent history there are always things
which the best research cannot determine. For events further in the
past, there are often disagreements about how to interpret the primary
sources, and even major uncertainties. You may have to choose which
interpretation to dramatize. Whichever you choose, it may be mistaken
or only part of the truth. One can only do one's best.
But that doesn't excuse intentionally choosing not to do one's best.
I am deeply disappointed by gratuitous falsification of history simply
to make the plot "more exciting". When I learned that The Great
Escape was mostly fiction, I felt cheated by it. It presents a
notice which tries to acknowledge that parts are fiction, but phrased
misleadingly: the notice states that the way they dug and used the
tunnel were accurate, but did not explicitly say that most of the rest
was not.
Even in Midway, which is mostly accurate, some points have been
made erroneous -- and it would have been so easy to get them right.
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| 6:48a |
School's snoop-phone ban
A school that banned snoop-phones on campus found that this made
life and education much better. Most of the students agree.
Alas, they are still being tracked, and perhaps listened to, by the
non-"smart" portable phones that they carry. These phones are likewise
running nonfree software that the user can't change _but others can_.
Still, this is a big step forward. If you can take that big step, you
can probably take the smaller step that remains.
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| 6:48a |
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| 6:48a |
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| 6:48a |
Boeing defects
Employees at Spirit AeroSystems, a subcontractor that Boeing spun off,
accused the company of disregarding high levels of defects.
This attitude is common in US businesses, and it makes life painful.
We need to change the system that makes it profitable to run businesses
with this attitude.
Structural reasons why Boeing is doing badly in the safety field:
it's owned by banks and asset managers, its outsourcing is out of control,
and the US doesn't have laws to ensure workers' safety concerns are heeded.
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| 6:48a |
Republican chaos
The head of the Michigan Republican Party has been ousted by the state
committee after claiming to have won votes within the party that in
fact perse had lost.
Now, following the lead of their greatest inspiration, perse has
refused to honor the vote that ousted per, and the two fractions look
like fighting in court soon.
It is beautifully ironic for Republicans to get a taste of their own
medicine. I laugh at their predicament. Will they learn a lesson
from it? Will they recognize, in these events, a reason not to
support the bullshitter as candidate for president?
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| 10:34a |
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| 10:33p |
Newburgh Four to be released from prison
The FBI concocted a fake plot and inveigled people into a fantasy of
planning terrorism. Those people were since known as the Newburgh
Four. Now they will be released from prison.
If they had really taken initiative to plan such attacks, they would
deserve prison sentences, but the FBI does the country no service by
protecting us from fantasy terrorism.
</li>
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| 10:33p |
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| 10:33p |
Hospitals become worse when bought by private equity firms
When private equity firms buy US hospitals, the hospitals become worse.
*The [private] equity firms cut corners, slash services, lay off
staff, lower quality of care, take on substantial debt, and reduce
charity care, leading to lower ratings and more medical errors, the
[two] reports collectively find.*
</li> |
| 10:33p |
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| 10:33p |
Cypriots demand end to UK military base
The UK has a military base on Cyprus, which it is using for attacks on
Houthi missile and drone launching facilities that it is using to
threaten shipping. Now some Cypriots demand an end to this cooperation.
They make two arguments. One is the reductionism that labels the
Houthis and their patron, Iran, as "good" because they act against
Israel. The other is using cowardice as the basic premise — "What if
Cyprus becomes a target?" They don't seem to notice the fundamental
contradiction between these two arguments.
Gaza or no Gaza, it is unacceptable to allow Houthis to menace the
whole world's economy when and as they see fit.
As a separate matter, governments including the US have a duty to
make Israel stop the bombardment and siege of Gaza. But we didn't
need the Houthis to teach us that.
We agree with then on that one point, but that doesn't change the fact
that they are violent and repressive religious fanatics who would
oppress us if they could.
</li> |
| 10:33p |
German farmers supporting extreme right-wing
German farmers are supporting the extreme right-wing after the center-left government reduced the subsidy on fossil fuels.
It made the usual mistake that governments make in how they do this:
they cut that subsidy and changed nothing else. The effect on farmers
was an immediate loss of income and they had no better alternative to
shift to.
The subsidy for fossil fuel must end. One way to end it without
crushing the farmers is to make the subsidy not depend on whether
they buy fossil fuel.
Then they will have an incentive to switch to a substitute — if and
when one exists. The government should actively make electric
tractors a reality.
Don't forget that farmers can no longer own a tractor — the manufacturer
designs them with proprietary software, which is malware: it snoops on
the farmer's actions and on data it measures about the farm, and it even has
a remote shut-off switch.
This ought to be illegal.
</li> |