They then opened fire. The authorities would not estimate how many rounds were discharged. Mr. Gainer, the sergeant-at-arms, said he believed that five to seven officers had fired. Possible Clues in Fatal Chase, but No Motive — Miriam Carey Was in Car When Police Fired, Official Says
Union Effin’ Power!
Do Carnegie Hall stage hands really make $400,000 a year? I first thought this was some urban right-wing anti-labor myth (I was all ready to file this under “right-wing lies”). But actually, well, they do. (Or at least close to it.) Holy sh*t! Susan Adams of Forbes wrote this great piece explaining the why. In short, why do they make…
Bait Car naps bait
Cause it’s always fun to watch crooks get caught. Full story here. [thanks to David Bratzer]
Why Are So Many Violent Criminals Walking Free?
Because of the War on Drugs.
Celebrating six years as a blockhead!
Like fellow “blockhead” Jay Livingston, I can’t believe I’ve been doing this “writing for free” crap since 2007. Like Jay, I decided to look back at my more popular posts. Unlike Jay, blogger/google doesn’t allow one to look at the past year. The choices jump from “last month” to “all time.” So let’s look at my five most popular posts…
Two more prohibition deaths
These twodidn’t die from MDMA. They died from whatever they took that wasn’t MDMA. Why? Because of prohibition. To blame drugs rather than prohibition is exactly the same as when, during Prohibition, “alcohol” caused blindness, death, and (my own favorite) Jake Leg. These are prohibition problems. Of course during Prohibition, prohibitionists blamed the prohibited drug rather than their policy of…
This is a big deal
This is far more radical than anything Judge Scheindlin ruled in her well publicized stop and frisk decision. In a 3-2 decision (People v. Johnson is not long and worth reading in its entirety) the court managed to rule the following unconstitutional: In a New York City Housing Authority building, which the testifying officer characterized as a “drug-prone” location, the…
IRB: The Censorship You’ve Never Heard Of
Unless you’re an academic, of course. From Commentary and worth reading in its entirely (if you care about this sort of thing): Since the 1970s, the government has overseen the establishment of bodies called Institutional Review Boards, and these “IRBs” have suppressed vast amounts of talking, printing, and publishing—even mere reading and analyzing—for hundreds of thousands of Americans. This is…
“Police work is a thinking person’s game”
It’s worth highlighting this excellent comment to a previous post, from a anonymous police officer. You can file this under “if you don’t work, you can’t get in trouble.” What I’ve learned over my career, and what has frustrated me as a life-long progressively inclined citizen, is that despite all common sense and evidence to the contrary, well-meaning liberal types…
Since money grows on trees, why not?
New York City paid $167,731 for each prisoner last year. That’s insane. Crazy high. And much higher than even the highest estimates I had heard. The New York Times reports “83 percent of the cost per prisoner came from wages, benefits for staff and pension costs.” That means it’s not going down anytime soon. Rikers Island is overstaffed (despite what…