tvashtarkatena

I haven't yet touched upon police accountability nor their demilitarization. Ending the drug war would at least end most SWAT activity. DOJ Report on the SPD The Consent Decree under which the SPD must now operate

Make fewer things illegal (marijuana, obviously), decriminalize illicit drugs in general, reduce most non-violent offenses from felonies to misdemeanors (CA just did this against the wishes of their strong prison guard lobby), divert rather than convict petty drug offenders, end debtor's prison (putting people back in the slammer for missing LFO payments) and reduce LFOs in general (also, provide a financial means test for payment - it's ridiculous to expect a homeless person to keep up), improve treatment for the mentally ill and drug addicted, eliminate 3 strikes and mandatory sentencing laws - use judicial discretion instead, make reporting racial statistics for each jurisdiction (county level) to the DOJ mandatory (arrest, conviction rates, etc) and have the DOJ investigate outliers, enable non-violent convicts who've served their time the ability to seal their records so they can actually get a job and rejoin society... ...to name a few.

That's why I've focused on the entire criminal justice systems - which includes voters, juries and lawmakers. You might familiarize yourself with police actions against peaceful protesters in Puerto Rico last year (2013), for a more comprehensive view of how our police act towards demonstrators. After all, the right to assembly is also included in the first amendment. It's not a convenience or a nuisance, however often it may be treated as such. It's a fundamental part of a healthy democracy.

Ever been to an anti war protest in Seattle? Guess not. SPD deploys all the same GI Joe toys. Armored vehicles, snipers, automatic weapons...in HUGE numbers. Clancy the Friendly Bicycle Cop is no where to be seen. And I guess the cops really ARE out to get black people: "the killing of young black men by police is a common feature of African-American life and a source of dread for black parents from coast to coast. This point was underscored last month in a grim report by ProPublica, showing that young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk — 21 times greater — of being shot dead by police than young white men." The comfy white upper class remain blissfully ignorant of just how racially biased against blacks our entire criminal justice system is. Life is easier that way. "Gosh, why are they so angry?" People have to be really fucking angry about something to start burning police cars. This extreme level of anger is fully justified, regardless of how you feel about making smores over a black and white. Rather than advocating crushing Ferguson further with any heaping helping of military force - a trending notion right now - perhaps we should view this as a much needed wake up call that our incredibly cruel and unjust criminal justice system is long in need of major reform - racially biased and overly violent policing, shoddy or non-existent public defense, mandatory and overly harsh sentencing, needless prohibition...the list is long. Unfortunately, this would require America to look at itself in the mirror pretty closely - not a popular past time in the kingdom of exceptionalism. We actually suck at a lot of things, our criminal justice system being near the top of the list, (right alongside our health care system and), and that's OK - unless we deny it and continue to make things worse, rather than better.

Should you fuck that up and just wound her Big Man, DO NOT come a runnin' my way.

Seattle PD is under a consent agreement after a very damning DOJ investigation and report, which revealed an historical pattern of excessive use of force, often blatantly racially motivated (like, captured on video n shit). So there's that. It seems that many police ARE out to get black people. The entire criminal justice system certainly is, given it's 3x racial bias for arrests, denial of bail, convictions, and longer sentencing for them. Everyone's aware of this horrific state of affairs - but where to begin. Well, making fewer things illegal is a great start.

great party this year!

It's intriguing to imagine that there may be an alter-verse somewhere out there where this Butthurt Channel PSA is relevant to something.

stay within the poor lad's pay grade, big man. historical context and satire aren't everyone's chai tea latte.

Why would Congress have anything whatsoever to say about how scientific work is peer reviewed? Conflicts of interest, indeed. What utter bullshit, but then, what else is new? WE NEED KEYSTONE!!! (when we're awash in cheap energy and employment is as low as its been in decades). The agenda is monetize the environment for your pals. It's not exactly a secret.

Hot Rod Lincoln, indeed. If sleeping next to a man is diagnostic of Macedonian proclivities, we are all Alexanders.

I view myself as more of a sautee-the-Constitution-a-little-grass-fed-strip-and-asparagus-before-taking-it-out-dancing kind of guy. I can hardly take the blame for what happens after that. At 2.99 a gallon, that extra trip to Butch's Guns ain't gonna cost ya much. Still, if you need a loan, just let a brother know. I've got 5 bucks laying around here somewhere.

To you, maybe. That must suck.

They used to bus W&M debutants to USNA dances for date fodder. Not the brightest bulbs on the marquee. I'd say Bachmann represents her alma mater quite well.

The guy on the right looks like his lower half was dipped in a thrift shop.

Denying the reality of the GOP's behavior should come as no surprise - denial is the party's number one way of absolving itself from solving real problems so it can get on with the business of attending to its base's short term business interests. When denial gets played out, manufacturing problems works, too.

A thousand points of lite.

i could try, but i know those unholy gray pajama pants'll make an appearance anyway.

always Big Man. Gonna be a Sat night next year

Celebrities included Carla Shauble, Eric Eames, Tim "dude, that's my goat" Halder, Linsey "youngest person ever" Warren, Don "Everest bagger" Beavon, Fred "I never finished the list, I just first ascended the majority of them" Beckey, with featured entertainment by Pickets master Wayne Wallace and John Scurlock, among many others. Anyone wanting to get in on next year's techno-climbing rave can contact Milda (tmilda at msn dot com) to be added to the invite list.

It's an annual party for the top 100 hippest in Washington. Way more exclusive than the Oscars. You could hardly hear DJ Tiesto over the slurping of the Michter's Single Barrel. Shakira flew up but she don't climb. Sorry, girl. She was PISSED. You could fry an egg on her tweets.

I heard a voice behind say "Hey Pat" at the Top 100 party last night, turned around, and was happily surprised to see the indomitable Josh Lewis standing there, sporting his usual cheerful smile, next to his brother. Josh's injuries were extensive and serious, but he's attacking his recovery with the same diligence and enthusiasm as his climbing. His reactions were top notch just before the accident, but a last nano-second ricochet by a 3 foot wide projectile knocked him off the mountain and very nearly off a cliff. Not many get tagged by something that big and live to tell about it. Josh still has a hard healing road ahead, but he's proof positive that it is, indeed, hard to keep a good man down.

C4s, not pickets, apparently. The lander seems to have survived its little adventure.

We drove the shit out of that bitch last weekend to check out the fly new Green Mt Lookout. There is one short area just before the Downey Ck Bridge that looks like its still at risk for a washout, but the rest looks like it could take an asteroid strike.

The ice harpoons failed and downward thrusters failed, so it seems to have bounced a bit. Very soft surface. Pow pow? Skinny skis OK considering the average dood would weigh less than a gram.