Domain: aadl.org
Stories and comments across the archive that link to aadl.org.
Comments · 8
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Re:This is Ridiculos
I'd have to get into a protracted discussion about numbers to explain why that's not the case. In brief, you're counting all whites. Not just the ones in poverty, in a city, which is where most of these problems happen. Density really does matter. Never the less, even in raw numbers there are more white people killed than black people. They act as if none are killed, maybe they just don't matter.
And what you're missing is that nobody tolerates this kind of thing even in high-density, low-income, white police jurisdictions.
Poor blacks start showing up, and police tactics abruptly switch for the expensive and low-death "community policing" to the relatively cheap, high-death "broken windows" model.
There's a reason the guy who shot Tamir Rice was not tolerated in white, working-class Independence, but did get a job in black Cleveland.
Some are very needless, like that man in I think it was SC that decided to run away. WHY? It was just a traffic citation, get his ticket like everyone else and get on with life. On the other side - WHY on God's green earth did he shoot at him? He could easily have caught up to him. The black man was about 50 and out of shape - I could have easily caught him and I'm 50, the cop was around 30 and in shape. No contest. Very dumbass move.
The guy ran because getting caught up in the gears of the legal system is truly nightmarish for those on the low end of the income spectrum. Speaking for myself, I made the mistake of forgetting my insurance paperwork once, got convicted of it because my brakes went out on the court date so I couldn't show them a copy, and then forget to pay the third $several-hundred penalty (Michigan does the fine, plus two "driver responsibility fees" for forgetting your insurance paperwork) until September 30th of 2010 when it was due BY September 30th. I didn't find out I was driving on a suspended license until somebody stole my wallet, and Ohio license, in August of 2013, which meant that if I'd still been driving and an Ohio cop had noticed I'd be in their system for driving on a suspended license. For forgetting paperwork, and then paying the fine ON instead of BY.
Running probably wasn't the smart thing to do, even given that; but it is a very understandable mistake to make if you know how state and municipal governments milk their poorest residents for fines, generally enforced by the threat of completely ruining your life. And not a problem for the ruling middle class, because they have the money for a lawyer.
The cop did it because be thought he'd get away with it. Police can get away with damn near anything, if they have a somewhat sensible reason to claim they feared for public safety (and it doesn't have to be terribly sensible -- this particular cop was alleging the victim stole his stun gun, and it's kinda difficult to go on a murder spree with a stun gun).
I think there's light at the end of the tunnel. For the first time in decades they seem to be listening and re-thinking their policies.
It'll help.
If I meet a black lives matter activist whose losing hope I point out that Mayor Gribbs of Detroit set up a police unit called "Stop The Robberies, Enjoy Safe Streets," which killed black men at a fairly prodigious pace. 2 every 3 months was an unusually low death toll. Whites loved it, and the white police chief became their standard bearer for the next election. It seemed like Nichols would win, and then some silly woman realized the knife "belonging" to one of the victims came out of the pockets of police-issued pants. Officer Peterson got off. The Jury decided that being on Chief Nichols force would drive anyone to becoming a racist serial killer. Chief Nichols lost the Mayoral election to a black guy, but got a nice consolation prize as Sheriff of the suburban County just north of the City.
I suspect to completely fix the problem we'd have t
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Re: Chapel Hill/ Carrboro North Carolina
Detroit's transit system is (as I mentioned) chronically fucked up. The 80%+ Black City, and the largely 90%+ White suburbs refuse to coordinate on anything, because that might involve admitting they were wrong about Coleman Young in 1973. The local government is structured so there's a King Urban Black (the Mayor of Detroit), and King Suburban White (the Oakland County Executive); and King Suburban White's response to the '73 election of Coleman over a Detroit Police Chief whose major accomplishment was setting up a racist death squad* was to hire that guy to be Sheriff. It's possible that things will improve now that a white guy's Mayor, and King White (Brooks Patterson) is 76 so he'll kick off soon enough.
Here on the southeast side we haven't heard anything about RTA west side stations being trouble spots. I have actually seen an RTA Officer come to a station every day at the same time with his drug-sniffing dog when the local potheads got too annoying. I don;t doubt there's a crime problem in the areas you've mentioned, but as a native (and Detroit-proper) Detroiter it doesn't sound like gang activity. Gangs are highly organized organizations. They tend not to target non-criminals (because that brings police attention and gets 70 people arrested), and their business model is typically an actual business model (ie: come to this neighborhood where it's safe to buy great weed). Which means that if you're saying they start fights with random people for reasons other then profit it's not what a hardened Detroiter (or most criminologists) would call a "gang."
What you seem to have on the West Side is a bunch of punk kids who've taken "Punk Kid" to felonious levels. They steal shit because it's easier then a job, start fights with random people because they're bored, and boast about it all in on Youtube due to a combination of hopelessness (the guys in their High School class who got legitimate work probably make $9 an hour, part-time, and catch hell from the conventional world where everyone still acts like you can just show up at the UAW plant and make a good wage like the 60s), and stupidity.
Which is not a great thing, and clearly a problem for the RTA because they don't have the guys to staff all train stations 24/7, but it's also not something that anybody can actually fix.
*This is less of an exaggeration then you'd think. STRESS shot an awful lot of black men during the late 60s and early 70s, and the one member they managed to charge got off on the basis that working in John Nichols' police department would turn anyone into a psycho racist serial killer. He later got back pay and disability.
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Re:I eat organic food to avoid chemicals...
but but but it's natural.
No, seriously, I use it in my garden but only against a specific fungus: the tomatoes blight. That disease grows on tomato leaves when there is a prolonged period of dry heat. Sure pyrethroids are way better against insect but they are useless against fungus... -
Renew your library card
Here's a thought: eBay your TiVo and then go renew your library card.
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Re:Alternatives to censorware?
the Ann Arbor district library, although it doesn't use "censorware", does have an acceptable use policy which deals with the issue of "disturbing information and images".
It deals with it mostly by telling patrons, "Deal with it." Some quotes from the AUP:Libraries and librarians should not deny or limit access to information available via electronic resources because of its controversial content or because of personal beliefs or fears of confrontation.
On the other hand, it does tell people to be respectful of others: ...the Library cannot protect individuals from information and images which they might find offensive or disturbing.Parents or guardians are responsible for the Internet information selected and/or accessed by their children.
customers are asked to be sensitive of others' values and beliefs when accessing potentially controversial information and images.
It appears that the Christian Gallery web site I was pointed to a couple of years ago would be something the Ann Arbor District Library would ask their patrons to avoid viewing in public. Interesting.Refraining from the transmission of threatening, harassing or abusive language and images.
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Re:Alternatives to censorware?
the Ann Arbor district library, although it doesn't use "censorware", does have an acceptable use policy which deals with the issue of "disturbing information and images".
It deals with it mostly by telling patrons, "Deal with it." Some quotes from the AUP:Libraries and librarians should not deny or limit access to information available via electronic resources because of its controversial content or because of personal beliefs or fears of confrontation.
On the other hand, it does tell people to be respectful of others: ...the Library cannot protect individuals from information and images which they might find offensive or disturbing.Parents or guardians are responsible for the Internet information selected and/or accessed by their children.
customers are asked to be sensitive of others' values and beliefs when accessing potentially controversial information and images.
It appears that the Christian Gallery web site I was pointed to a couple of years ago would be something the Ann Arbor District Library would ask their patrons to avoid viewing in public. Interesting.Refraining from the transmission of threatening, harassing or abusive language and images.
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Alternatives to censorware?
Probably you've already thought about this, but have you tried proposing any alternative ways of dealing with the perceived pornography problem? I notice, for example, that the Ann Arbor district library, although it doesn't use "censorware", does have an acceptable use policy which deals with the issue of "disturbing information and images".
I also stumbled across a survey of library policies which has pointers to individual policies of libraries in each state, and also has some statistics (e.g., they say that at that time only 2% of libraries were using filtering software).
Maybe it would be possible to talk someone from the Ann Arbor library, or from some other library in your area, to come and give a presentation about how they arrived at the policies for their library, and how those policies have worked. I bet a lot of people would find it very reassuring to see a local librarian come and say "we didn't use censorware, but we did do this and this and this, and we've had no complaints so far...".
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Alternatives to censorware?
Probably you've already thought about this, but have you tried proposing any alternative ways of dealing with the perceived pornography problem? I notice, for example, that the Ann Arbor district library, although it doesn't use "censorware", does have an acceptable use policy which deals with the issue of "disturbing information and images".
I also stumbled across a survey of library policies which has pointers to individual policies of libraries in each state, and also has some statistics (e.g., they say that at that time only 2% of libraries were using filtering software).
Maybe it would be possible to talk someone from the Ann Arbor library, or from some other library in your area, to come and give a presentation about how they arrived at the policies for their library, and how those policies have worked. I bet a lot of people would find it very reassuring to see a local librarian come and say "we didn't use censorware, but we did do this and this and this, and we've had no complaints so far...".