Both major political parties would have you believe that the devil is in the details — that they’re both fighting hard for particular priorities and just can’t come to a meeting of the minds. In reality, this is all about next month’s elections, which will decide control of the White House for the next four years, and possibly of both houses of Congress for the next two.
Tag: prison
Breonna Taylor’s Killers, Anarchist Jurisdictions, & Turkey’s Speech Prisons (39m) – Episode 386
Episode 386 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following news stories: from USA Today, “‘Vigorous’ self-defense laws likely prevented homicide charges in Breonna Taylor’s death, experts say” (Wikipedia entry on Breonna Taylor’s death, Reason’s coverage); from Wave3 News, “Jon Mattingly: Officer involved in Breonna Taylor shooting sends candid email to LMPD colleagues”; from NBC New York, “DOJ Designates New York City as an ‘Anarchist Jurisdiction'”; from Alarabiya, “Turkey sentences female politician to prison for calling Erdogan ‘enemy of women’”; and from Next City, “Atlanta’s Trying to Support, Not Punish, Its Teenage Water Vendors” (Full council report).
Politicians vs. Small Businesses
It’s bad enough when politicians kill businesses with COVID-19 shutdowns. It’s worse if they kill a business because the owner won’t give money to their friends.
Silence Is Not Consent in Politics, Either
When you undergo a medical procedure or volunteer for a research study, you’re presented with forms to sign, outlining what’s going to happen (and what bad things could happen), and expressly consenting to have those things happen. If you’re accused of rape, “he or she didn’t physically resist” isn’t an acceptable defense. In fact, express consent is the emerging standard, sometimes to seemingly ridiculous degrees (i.e. re-requesting consent at each stage of an encounter). Consent, I think we can agree, is a big deal in America today.
Kamala Harris’s Problem Isn’t Her Identity; It’s Her Character
As you no doubt know by now, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has chosen US Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) as his running mate. You’ve probably also noticed the first salvo of Republican attacks on Harris: She’s “not really black,” and she may not even be a “natural born citizen” as required by the Constitution to hold the office of president or vice president. No one sane or intelligent finds either of these attacks convincing.
“Prussian” Indoctrination – The Other Side
In doing a little searching for “The Prussian model” of schooling, I ran across an essay that claims to expose “The Invented History of ‘The Factory Model of Education’”. It’s important to get the other side, so I read it and I’ll give you my thoughts here.
Hope and Despair in Nearly Equal Parts
I’ve been observing and listening to what people around me are saying concerning recent events. It’s been interesting.
MOVE Bombing: The Story of How Philadelphia Became “The City That Bombed Itself”
The case of MOVE is an unusual one, because they cannot simply be shoe-horned into the usual “they were just minding their own business and then the cops came in with overwhelming force” narrative that more or less applies at Ruby Ridge or at Waco. This is not to imply that the actions taken by the Philadelphia Police Department were appropriate – there were children inside the MOVE townhouse. However, it is important to note that MOVE had a history of violence.
America’s “Days of Rage”: The Extensive Left-Wing Bombings & Domestic Terrorism of the 1970s
Most Americans have never heard of these acts of terrorism from leftist groups that were so numerous throughout the 1970s. But this is a prime example of “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” The urban unrest, which has rocked America in the early 2020s, is nothing new. The 1960s saw both race riots and left-wing terrorist groups looking to exploit animosity between racial groups in America.
School’s Out; Reactionaries Hate That
If there’s been one bright spot in America’s COVID-19 experience, it’s the near-complete shutdown of an expensive and obsolete government education system cribbed from mid-19th century Prussia.