October 20, 2017

Test of police body cameras reveals that they don't magically cure police corruption.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/upshot/a-big-test-of-police-body-cameras-defies-expectations.html

For seven months, just over a thousand Washington, D.C., police officers were randomly assigned cameras — and another thousand were not. Researchers tracked use-of-force incidents, civilian complaints, charging decisions and other outcomes to see if the cameras changed behavior. But on every metric, the effects were too small to be statistically significant. Officers with cameras used force and faced civilian complaints at about the same rates as officers without cameras.

This test completely misses the point. We all know that there are corrupt police officers, but the purpose of body cameras shouldn't be to somehow transform them into law-abiding, civil rights-respecting, enforcers of the law, it should be to catch them in the act, prosecute them, and convict them. With that in mind the fact that these officers aren't dissuaded by body cameras could actually be good news. It should make it easier to catch them and deal with them.

Maybe the reason the cameras don't seem to make a difference is that those corrupt officers know they'll get away with what they do, camera or no camera. Prosecutors won't prosecute them, juries won't convict them, and above all, they have the backing of our nation's president.

October 18, 2017

An ironic Trump quote:

“I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who was — sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people aren’t too surprised to hear that.”

It's true, most people aren’t too surprised to hear that. I'm certainly not. I don't believe a word of it but I'm not surprised to hear it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/10/18/totally-fabricated-trump-disputes-congresswomans-depiction-of-his-exchange-with-soldiers-widow/?utm_term=.9ba4c231a916

October 17, 2017

RE: John McCain - There are no conservatives in foxholes.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/17/politics/john-mccain-trump-spurious-nationalism/index.html

There's a popular claim among Christians that "there are no atheists in foxholes", implying that an atheist near death will begin to worry about an afterlife and embrace Pascal's long-debunked "wager."

I don't grant any credibility to that but it could be that a similar principle applies to religious conservatives, or at least to John McCain, who presumably does believe in an afterlife and wants to distance himself from the evil nature of conservatism in order to redeem his soul while he has time.

October 16, 2017

Shower thought: Trump is a lot like Cave Johnson.

He hires advisors and ignores their advice.

"The lab boys just informed me that I should not have mentioned the control group. They're telling me I oughtta stop making these pre-recorded messages (Tweets). That gave me an idea: make more pre-recorded messages! I pay the bills here, I can talk about the control group all damn day."

https://theportalwiki.com/wiki/Cave_Johnson_voice_lines

October 11, 2017

Announcers should never say "Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for our national anthem."

They should say "Ladies and gentlemen, our national anthem."

In that case, if you choose to stand then you're showing respect. But you stand because the announcer told you to then you're not showing respect for anything, except maybe for the announcer. All you're really doing is just following instructions.

October 8, 2017

If you insist upon leaving your garbage out, don't complain about the flies and maggots it attracts.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/08/us/charlottesville-torch-rally/index.html

Charlottesville mayor slams 'despicable visit' as another torch rally held

The city's mayor, Mike Signer had a blunt message for them: "Another despicable visit by neo-Nazi cowards. You're not welcome here! Go home!"

...

On Saturday around 7:40 p.m., a group of about 40 to 50 people, including Spencer, gathered at Emancipation Park, where the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee stands, Charlottesville police said.

October 4, 2017

Uh-oh! I'd hate to be this doctor...

https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/the-strip/las-vegas-strip-shooter-prescribed-anti-anxiety-drug-in-june/

Stephen Paddock, who killed at least 58 people and wounded hundreds more in Las Vegas on Sunday with high-powered rifles, was prescribed an anti-anxiety drug in June that can lead to aggressive behavior, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has learned.

...

Records from the Nevada Prescription Monitoring Program obtained Tuesday show Paddock was prescribed 50 10-milligram diazepam tablets by Henderson physician Dr. Steven Winkler on June 21.

Nothing can be done to Stephen Paddock, who's already dead, but someone has to pay, and it might turn out that this unlucky doctor has drawn the short straw.

EDIT: Obviously I don't personally believe that "someone has to pay", I'm just saying that it's the way people tend to look at it.

October 4, 2017

Note to gun advocates: "This is not the time" is not a compelling counter-argument.

When Marcia Clark, O. J. Simpson's prosecutor, tried to counter allegations that Mark Fuhrman planted evidence, she tried that empty argument on the jury and it failed miserably. It will always fail because it implies that it's all you've got. It's equivalent to saying "Uhh... let's not talk about that now" with an embarrassed expression on your face.

October 3, 2017

Chicago Tribune's John Kass slams Democrats for talking gun control, gets trounced in the comments.

It's another lame "this is not the time" argument, but the commenters are all over him.

Chicago Tribune:

The left swoops in on Las Vegas massacre

September 26, 2017

"There is beauty in football..."

"... most of it is in the halftime show." -- Lawrence O'Donnell