What’s Up At WoW!?

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WoW ! Magazine

As regular readers know, I’m a founding contributor at Wow Magazine, a collaboration of some of the most insightful writers on the Internet–or elsewhere, for that matter.  Here are some current articles at Wow I’m sure you’ll find interesting.  As I’ve often noted, Wow should be on your daily “to read” list (NOTE: I don’t link here to my own articles on WoW.  I post them on SMM the day after they appear on WoW, and the SMM articles are usually updated as new developments crop up):

Federal Court – Trump Commission On Voter Fraud Request For State Data Lawful

Why John McCain Should Learn To Keep His Mouth Shut…For His Own Good

The Cowardice Of Race

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conservatives, Eric Holder, gangs, liberals, progressives, public defender, race, racial tribalism

credit: washingtonpost.com

During my police years, I generally got along well with defense attorneys. While they were careful about making any admissions against the interests of their clients, the people I arrested, we would often laugh about their client’s exploits, and I’d kid them unmercifully about potential defenses for the indefensible.

Some defense attorneys were not likeable people. They not only hated the police, they identified with their clients, encouraging their delusions. Some even helped them commit crimes. I found most of these people, usually male, used drugs–in many cases, their clients were their suppliers–and often wore ponytails. Go figure.

WoW! Magazine Forum For July 24, 2017

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Forum, WoW ! Magazine

The Forum, Rome, Italy
credit: wikipedia.en

Every week on Monday, the WoW! community and our invited guests weigh in at the Watcher’s Forum, short takes on a major issue of the day, the culture, or daily living.  This week’s question: How would you rate Trump’s performance after six months?

Don Surber: My 401-k — fully invested in Bogle’s S&P 500 stock index fund — is up 15% since Election Day.

860 regulations are gone.

The Justine Damond Case, Update 5: Transforming Policing

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BCA, Betsy Hodges, Chief Arradondo, Justine Damond, Minneapolis, Mohamed Noor, MPD

Damond, her fiance Don,(center) and his son, Zach

As I’ve previously noted, establishing an accurate time frame is absolutely essential to any police involved shooting investigation. The Minneapolis local CBS affiliate, using all resources available to them, has assembled this time frame:

Future Felons Of America

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Florida, human nature, Jamel Dunn, remorse

What is the nature of man? Is man inherently good or evil? Given the opportunity to do good, when no one else is around to take notice, how does man respond? Or does the answer depend on the situation? In this heartbreaking and rage provoking case, the answer seems clear. Florida Today reports:

The Justine Damond Case, Update 4: Political Damage

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BCA, Betsy Hodges, Don Damond, Islam, Janee Harteau, Justine Damond, Minneapolis, Mohamed Noor, MPD, race

Justine and Don Damond

Barack Obama caused a great deal of damage. Much of that damage is only now becoming apparent, and more will become apparent in the future. It will take many years to reverse the damage, and some may never be reversed; it has become the new normal. The Holder and Lynch Departments of Justice worked tirelessly to hamper the police, to make it impossible to do their jobs. They worked no less tirelessly to immunize criminals, particularly black criminals, from arrest and punishment. The Obama Administration worked on the state and federal levels to all but shutter prisons, to eliminate bail for violent felons, and to impose insane consent decrees on police agencies. It’s little known the DOJ had an office of race hustlers that were sent out to communities like Sanford, Ferguson, Baltimore and others, not to assist law enforcement, but to help BLM, other social justice warriors, and to help organize protests. They provided not only federal funds, but expertise and political arm twisting.

The Justine Damond Case, Update 3: Deadly Force, Deadly Mistake

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BCA, Betsy Hodges, deadly force, Fred Bruno, Justine Damond, Matthew Harrity, Minneapolis, Mohamed Noor, MPD, Muslim, race, Robert Bennett

Justine Damond

For the time being, the initial deluge of new information in this case seems to have slowed, which is generally the way of such things. In this article, I’ll take advantage of that relative lull to explain an issue that will largely determine whether any charges are filed–or should be filed–and the outcomes of any criminal or civil trial: the law of deadly force.

In article 2 of this case, Police Panic, I wrote of Officer Matthew Harrity’s attorney’s assertion of officer reasonableness:

The Justine Damond Case, Update 2: Police Panic

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BCA, Don Damond, Justine Damond, Matthew Harrity, Minneapolis, Mohamed Noor, MPD

Justine Damond

As expected, additional information in the Justine Damond case is rapidly coming to light. Let me, however, caution you yet again, gentle readers. We are still far from certainty about much of what happened in Minneapolis on July 15. When a definitive version of the incident is released by the police, and I suspect that won’t take long, I’ll surely have to revise some early details and assumptions. Let us begin, courtesy of The Daily Mail, with Damond’s 911 call that began the chain of events ending in Damond’s death:

The Justine Damond Case, #1: Tribal Politics

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diversity, Don Damond, Justine Damond, Matthew Harrity, Minneapolis, Mohamed Noor, Twin Cities

Justine Damond

As regular readers know, I often write on police misconduct, or accusations of the same. In reporting on such things, I rely on what I’ve come to call my “cop sense,” which is rather like Spiderman’s “spidey sense.” I primarily rely on media reports, which are often wrong, and my experience as a police officer. Often, what isn’t said or done by the police or local politicians speaks more loudly and accurately than what is said or done.

In the Erik Scott case, early reports set off my cop sense. Everything about that case sounded wrong. It smelled like a police cover up from the first article I read, and so it was. In the Freddie Gray case, it was the opposite. It smelled like a political witch hunt against innocent officers, and so it was. The same was true of the Michael Brown case. In the Brown and Gray cases, race was a significant factor. Brown and Gray were black, and the officers involved–mostly–were white. As one might imagine, race hustlers rode those narratives for all they were worth, but in both case, the rule of law ultimately prevailed.

All-Time Favorite Student Comic Writings, Part 1

credit: boreme.com

As the Justine Damond case is occupying much of my time for the moment, I thought you might like to begin this week, and the next two weeks, with my all time favorite student comic writings.  I’m sure the time necessary to devote to that case will soon slacken and I’ll return to my weekly education articles on Mondays, but in the meantime, have fun!

My kids, in their attempts at serious, academic writing, are often inadvertently hilarious.  It’s been two years since my last posting of some of my favorites, so I thought you, gentle readers, could use a good laugh to get your weeks off to a light-hearted start.  So for the next three weeks, a reiteration of some of my favorites.

I’ve been collecting the inadvertently funny things my students write for nearly 20 years. Some are the result of typographical errors, others an artifact of limited vocabularies running headlong into earnest attempts to expand them. Others are the unintentional marriage of two different concepts like this one:

Uh, right…

Perhaps we will never know why Shakespeare wrote the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet the way that he did. It will remain a mystery to the world. But I know one thing. If he did go out in public, tomorrow, and pull his pants down, people would applaud.

That delightful juxtaposition of seemingly exclusive ideas was the result of a discussion of Julius Caesar, a mention of Romeo and Juliet, and a daily saying by Edna St. Vincent Millay simultaneously written on the chalkboard:

A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down…

I’m still not sure from where the applause came.

For this week, and two weeks to follow, enjoy my all-time favorites courtesy of my wonderful and endlessly fascinating students!