The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

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Scared police are bad police: why aren't the police more brave?

By erica20 on Wed, 11/26/2014 - 3:34pm |

Background: watch the Sean Groubert video for insight into the Wilson/Brown confrontation. [Groubert is the officer who shot the guy reaching into his van for his licence/registration.]  In Groubert, you see it in front of your eyes: action driven by fear. (And maybe some institutionalized racism as well, but others have covered that so I won’t go into it here.)

Apology turns out to be useful alternative to shooting

By erica20 on Fri, 09/12/2014 - 12:15pm |

Follow-up to Murder in Michigan and Not-Murder Near Michigan.

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/news/accused-muskie-hater-apologizes-for-ki...

Again, this is not rocket science. People have confrontations every day and do not shoot each other. It's illegal, for one thing.

Not-murder near Michigan

By erica20 on Fri, 09/12/2014 - 12:06pm |

I am posting this video for a couple of reasons:

1. It is oddly entertaining.

2. It is an example of (gasp!) a confrontation that was NOT escalated and resolved with gunfire.The people in the video get hot under the collar, shout even, but despite frustration and anger on both sides, neither party jumps to the unreasonable conclusion he is in danger of extreme bodily harm.

See how easy this is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzdesfXfaTY&feature=youtu.be

Murder in Michigan

By erica20 on Thu, 09/04/2014 - 4:05pm |

A news item about an apparent road rage shooting in Howell, MI, caught my eye today. 

http://www.livingstondaily.com/story/news/local/community/genoa-township...

A couple (the Flemmings) was driving to pick up their kids from school when they were allegedly cut off by a guy in a pickup truck (Martin Edward Zale.) When they all stopped at a stoplight, Flemming, age 43, approached the truck, presumably to yell at Zale, whereupon Zale, age 69, rolled down the window and shot Flemming dead.

In which V. Putin alters my Snowden prediction

By erica20 on Tue, 06/25/2013 - 1:41pm |

In an earlier comment I referred to Julian Assange as an unfortunate choice of prom date for Ed Snowden.

Now, Snowden's choice of Moscow as a transit point has cast him into an odious threesome including Vladimir Putin of Russia. There are quite a few possibilites for what could happen now. So I have to alter my prediction of a drawn-out flurry of diplomacy ending in a quiet life in Iceland which does not feature a career in technology. The new possibilities are as follows:

My Snowden prediction

By erica20 on Thu, 06/20/2013 - 3:43pm |

What the heck, I don't care if I'm wrong. So fwiw, here's my prediction of what will happen in the Snowden case. (As long as Greenwald/Poitras don't release further information without Snowden's permission, in which case all bets are off.)

You know it's going to be a movie someday.

By erica20 on Wed, 06/12/2013 - 4:19pm |

All I can say is, if James Van Der Beek and Krysten Ritter's (of don't trust the B in apartment 23) agents are not shopping them as possiblities to play Edward Snowden and Laura Poitras in the eventual movie to be made about this NSA story, then James Van Der Beek and Krysten Ritter have the dumbest agents in the history of Hollywood.

Let Freedom Ring: Freedom to Marry in all 50 States

By erica20 on Fri, 05/17/2013 - 3:15pm |

Hopefully this video will attach--I came up with a visual to support freedom to marry in all 50 states and am looking for feedback. Also maybe shares...I haven't done anything to get it out there yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-lnWj6otzg

I also couldn't figure out how to attach the jpg file I made. Technology is hard.

Tsarnaev opens strong with Full Keanu

By erica20 on Tue, 04/23/2013 - 4:41pm |

I had been trying to decide how D. Tsarnaev would describe his activities in his discussions with authorities and the press. I thought he'd be quiet for a few days but apparently he's already begun to talk with authorities. I'll post a link as soon as I find a good rundown.

From Sandy Hook to Boston: America's love affair with Extremism must come to an end.

By erica20 on Mon, 04/22/2013 - 3:54pm |

Stories. They've been around for a long time, and sometimes they help us figure out trends and events that seem mysterious.

In the days after Sandy Hook, I thought a lot about the story of the Pied Piper, in which citizens thought they had found a permanent solution to their rat problem, only to discover that the price of that solution was...their kids. (Uh-oh, it turns out that preparing our children for some sort of theoretical disaster by teaching them to ride and shoot and hate America might have its drawbacks.)

Now, thinking of two 19-year olds (so impossibly, foolishly young) whose lives have been effectively sacrificed on twin altars of extreme thinking, I keep coming around to the last scene of Romeo and Juliet, with the two kids  from families who had a lot in common but chose to hate each other, laid out on funeral biers and the prince (a dull guy but you know, he was right) trying to connect the dots for them.

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