I try and face most issues objectively. But not this one. I am pro-immigrant. My mom is an immigrant (from Germany) and my father’s parents were immigrants (Greeks from the Ottoman Empire on an Italian passport from what is now Albania). New York was founded on illegal immigrants (hell, America was founded on illegal immigrants). Nativist bastards hated your immigrant…
Month: April 2010
Putting the coke back in cola
Or in this case Coca Colla.
Perlman Place Demolition
The Baltimore Sun has a video. It’s always a bit sad to see people cheer the destruction of a city block. Of course this block was already destroyed. Now it’s just a matter of tearing down empty shells of brick. Everything of value has been stripped. Now it’s just a place for trash, wild animals, and crime. As sad as…
RIP Daryl Gates
The career of Gates should not be celebrated. My sincere condolences to his family and those who loved him. Seriously. But LA Police Chief Daryl Gates didn’t like to give breaks to other people. So why should I give him one? Gates is still popular among conservative law-and-order types. Drugs on a block? Send in an armored tank. Casual drug…
Daryl Gates dies
Forgive me if I don’t send flowers to his funeral. What an SOB.
A billion here and a billion there…
A study by Daryl Fischer shows that 94 percent of Arizona state inmates are repeat or violent offenders. That “or” is important. “The myth that we’re filling our prisons with first-time drug offenders is not true.” Well sort of. It is generally true (with some notable exceptions) that people don’t do prison time for non-violent drug possession. But this hardly…
Baltimore Police Department Suspends Comstat
Last week the BPD announced that they were suspending comstat. I’m not certain if that’s cutting edge or retro. Perhaps it’s time to suspend compstat here in NYC. I don’t think anybody wants a police department that doesn’t hold commanders accountable and use the timely analysis of crime data, but (and this is putting it politely) perhaps there is room…
Disband SWAT?
In this era of tight budgets, smaller cities and towns should consider disbanding the local SWAT team. They’ll save money on training, equipment and overtime. They’ll be returning to a less aggressive, less militaristic, more community-oriented method of policing. And though there always will be crime, it seems unlikely that should they do away with SWAT, towns like Eufaula will…