Seems to be what’s happening in Newark, which laid off 163 police officers last month.
Mexico
First, as my wife sits near me working on a guidebook to the Yucatan (that’s Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and the Mayan Riviera for you tourists in Mexico), I feel obliged to point out that the Yucatan has a lower homicide rate than Canada. And Canada is safer than America. So not going to Cancun because of violence in Tijuana…
Pat Robertson for Legalized Pot Possession
Stranger things have happened. But I can’t think of when. I saw this the other day watching the 700 Club [not true]. “We’ve got to look at what we’re considering crime.” Robertson also comes out against mandatory sentences. “It’s costing us a fortune and it’s ruining young people.” Preach on, Brother Robertson. [Update: Robertson clarifies his perspective] But seriously, it’s…
What you learn on the job
I compiled a little top ten lost of things police learn on the job. You can see it at Criminal Justice Programs.com. Peter Moskos is a former police officer and author of the popular law enforcement blog, Cop in the Hood (www.copinthehood.com). He is currently a professor of law and police science at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal…
Change is Bad: Poughkeepsie
I like then-and-now shots of life in America. I posted two of Newburgha while back and got some interest. This one of downtown Poughkeepsie, NY, isn’t as dramatic or depressing a change as was Newburgh, but is it really to much to ask for things to be bettertoday than they were 99 years ago? Apparently, when it comes to our…
Speaking of private justice
Halliburton pays Nigeria $250 million to drop their case against former CEO Dick Cheney… for paying Nigerian official $180 million between 1994 and 2004 to secure a $6 billion contract. So says the BBC.
Private Prisons in Maine
1) Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the nation’s largest for-profit prison operator, spends $25,000 for Maine Republican candidate Paul LePage. He wins the election. But state law prohibits private prisons. This kind of law is one of the few good things to come from prison guard union lobbying. 2) A few weeks before becoming governor, according to Lance Tapley in…
Man killed by police was holding a water nozzle, not a gun, police say
What race do you think the victim was?
National Intelligence, hard at work
The Air Force is blocking its personnel from using work computers to view the Web sites of more than 25 news organizations and blogs that have posted Wikileaks. So says the Times (one of the blocked sites). Phew. God forbid Air Force personnel would know what is free information to the rest of the world. “Classified information, whether or not…
Politics and the Courts and Health Care
It always bothers me when people bitch about court decisions because they don’t agree with the politics. It’s one thing to be pro-abortion (as I am) or pro illegal immigration (got me there, too) or anti-2nd Amendment (not too fond of how some people interpret it, personally). It’s another to think that every Supreme-Court decision needs to be decided in…