Any two people interested in whether Amanda Beard is dating fellow Olympian Michael Phelps, and who clicked on the Boston Herald tidbit that raced around the Web last week, got the same piece of gossip.
Rumored galpal Amanda Beard on Phelps: No Thanks!
What was different was the political ads that appeared — or didn’t — beside the story.
Readers who had visited Barack Obama’s Web site received as many as three Obama ads alongside the gossip. “Help Elect Barack Obama President of the United States” and “Visit the Barack Obama Website,” the ads said. Read more
Some of you know that I am an, er, critic of Israel, but I am a big fan of parts of its English media, especially the newspaper Ha’aretz, and not just on its Mideast coverage. Here’s an intriguing column by Bradley Burston on the US election. He’s basically written Obama off.
Take a long walk in this land of dreams and all you’ll see is Obama. Obama lawn signs, Obama bumper stickers, window placards, lapel buttons, anklets. In souvenir stores, Obama t-shirts compete successfully with longtime best-sellers touting Bourbon Street and carousing alligators. Read more
The very serious people of both parties seem to have decided that to make up for the Iraq fiasco, we will double down in Afghanistan so we can win the “good” war against al Qaeda. This is not a McCain v. Obama thing since both seem to think sending more troops to Afghanistan and threatening Pakistan is fantastic foreign policy. Read more
A Statesville man died after being shocked multiple times by Tasers at the Iredell County jail over the weekend, sources say.
Anthony Davidson, 29, was unresponsive when he was taken to Iredell Memorial Hospital Saturday afternoon. He was put on life support and died late Sunday night, police said.
His death is the second Taser-related death this year in the Charlotte area. In March, 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner, died after Charlotte-Mecklenburg police used a Taser on him at a Food Lion store in Charlotte.
[…]
The incident began about 3 p.m. Saturday at a Statesville grocery store. Employees at the Food Lion on N.C. 115 told police they tried unsuccessfully to stop Davidson from leaving the store with a full cart of groceries after his debit card was declined. He left the parking lot without the groceries, police said.
When officers caught up with Davidson a short time later, he was carrying an Applebee’s gift card from the store that hadn’t been paid for, Anderson said.
Officers took Davidson to the Iredell County Jail where he appeared before a magistrate on a larceny charge. Davidson was behaving abnormally from the time officers first encountered him, Anderson said.
While being booked, Davidson became “physically aggressive and was communicating loudly,” Anderson said. That’s when officers used one or more Tasers to get him “back under control,” police said.
A nurse who screened Davidson afterward told officers he needed further medical screening because he appeared to be “under the influence of some type of impairing substance.”
Paramedics took Davidson to the hospital Saturday. His condition continued to decline and he was unresponsive when he arrived, Anderson said. He was admitted to intensive care and was taken off life support about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
[…]
Davidson’s family said they weren’t aware of him using or having a problem with drugs or alcohol… They said police told them Davidson fell while being subdued and may have hit his head.
An autopsy is scheduled later this week, Moore said.
Last month, the officer involved in the Charlotte Taser incident was cleared of criminal charges [So much for the Milgram Dodge, eh?] but was suspended for five days [wow!] for violating the department’s policy when he continuously shocked Darryl Turner for 37 seconds, a factor that contributed to his death.
They tased him to “get him back under control”. Everything I’ve been told by Taser defenders leads me to believe - and I have no reason to doubt them - that they think Tasers are necessary to prevent the use of lethal force.
There is no discernible reason why lethal force should have been used to “control” an unarmed suspect who is “physically aggressive” (can we see the video?) and “communicating loudly”. I’m pretty sure everyone can agree on that. So why the hell did they Tase him? I am sympathetic to the argument that a Taser is less harmful than a billy club to the head, but the guy was in handcuffs, for christ’s sake.
As Atticus Finch said to Jem, “Never point a gun at a man unless you intend to shoot him, and never shoot a man unless you intend to kill him,” or something to that effect. A Taser may be less likely to kill than a gun but certain people will die from it and that fact seems to be ignored an awful lot in these discussions. Shooting someone with a Taser should be a direct, 1:1 substitute for shooting them with a bullet, without exception.
The naked guy standing in the shower with a towel did not require a bullet. Baron Pikes didn’t require a bullet. The guy who wouldn’t sign his speeding ticket didn’t require a bullet. The Polish guy in the Vancouver airport didn’t require a bullet. The kid with a broken back did not require a bullet. This guy did not require a bullet. I’m not convinced anyone who has died after being Tased has required a bullet. I’m sure that it makes the cops’ jobs easier and safer for themselves if they Tase more people instead of wrestling them to the ground; I don’t care. I’d like my job to be easier and safer, but I don’t get to make the rules. The police do not have a right to a completely submissive citizenry and they should be prevented from trying to create one.
And if you don’t think that’s an accurate description of this cavalier attitude:
Taser-related deaths across North Carolina prompted a coalition to study Taser use. The N.C. Taser Safety Project surveyed the state’s 100 sheriff’s offices and found that 70 issued Tasers to some or all of its deputies, but many agencies lack clear policies about when and how they should be used.
…then what is? Replace “Tasers” with “guns” and it sounds like a story from Baghdad, doesn’t it?
So, yesterday morning, a 16-year-old boy in Ozark, Missouri fell off a 30-foot I-65 overpass for unknown reasons. When the police arrived on the scene, they promptly administered first aidTased him 19 times because he wouldn’t “comply” with their orders to stand up. (Thank god for Tasers, otherwise they’d have had to put him down like a broken racehorse, eh?)
Mace ended up in intensive care at a hospital. His parents believe the actions of Ozark police officers contributed to his injuries and slowed doctors’ abilities to speed his recovery.
The official explanation:
“He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him. He is making incoherent statements; he’s also making statements such as, ‘Shoot cops, kill cops,’ things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers,” said Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset.
Yeah, I’m sure that’s exactly what he said after falling off a fucking bridge. They must have felt very threatened indeed by a possibly-paraplegic child. No word on whether he announced to the world that he was high on crack and PCP yet.
I don’t even know what to say anymore. It really is a gaslight scenario. I wish I could at least attribute this to racism or something, but it appears these cops are bona fide sociopaths. Subliminal Stanley Milgram: No, they’re not! Subliminal me: Harumph…
I can’t say I’ll be surprised with they start Tasing motorcycle crash victims. We Are All Violently High On Crack And PCP Now. Read more
Back in the great state of Louisiana, Baron “Scooter” Pikes was spotted by the police while walking peacefully down the street. Given his outstanding warrant for possession, one Officer Nugent gave chase, and Pikes was cornered. Due to his failure to submit, Nugent tased him. Nine times. In 14 minutes. While Pikes surrendered and begged him to stop.
Pikes died shortly thereafter. He was a healthy man of 33 years. Nugent claimed that, in an apparent Bob Woodward-style near-death confession, he told them (in between the screams of pain and death rattles) that he was high on crack and PCP (never heard that one before!) and had asthma. The coroner found no evidence for any of these claims and ruled the death a homicide, but hey, what are you gonna believe, hearsay from a hardly-impartial participant or hard science from a 33-year veteran?
In an apparent goodwill gesture to shock Pikes back to life, Nugent admitted that he tased Pikes twice while he was unconscious and in custody.
I really wish I could link to the part of the Milgram experiment wherein the actor “dies” and the unwitting partipant shocks him again, and again, and again. Gee, I don’t know why. A person administering an electrical shock that they are told is, well, maybe-sorta-safe, but they definitely won’t be held responsible if things go awry… nah, never mind, there’s no similarity there whatsoever. I don’t know what I was thinking. Read more
Via the Guardian, the surveillance society is going global:
"A comprehensive transatlantic pact clearing the way for the unprecedented supply of private data on European citizens to the American authorities is to be promoted by France in support of the US-driven campaign to combat terrorism and transnational crime.
The French government is expected to use its six-month presidency of the EU, starting tomorrow, to build on 18 months of confidential negotiations between Washington and Brussels aimed at clearing the complex legal obstacles to the exchange of personal information with the Americans.
The controversial proposed pact, a "framework agreement" on common data protection principles, is likely to enable the Americans to access the credit card histories, banking details and travel habits of Europeans, although senior officials in Brussels deny US reports that the Americans will also be able to snoop on the internet browsing records of Europeans." Read more
Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike President Sarkozy and his administration?
Yet another attempt is being made to pass a FISA revision bill that will provide immunity for the telecoms against lawsuits for their part in illegal spying on American citizens. The cabal planning this maneuver expects to take their plot to both the House and Senate next week, where coalitions of Republicans and BlueDog Democrats could provide enough votes for passage.
That’s what someone from Iowa just said to me. Take a look for yourself:
More here. This is apparently the independent teevee station in the area and doing a good job of covering events there.
If you have money, or time, think about donating some to the Red Cross or similar organizations. It seems Bush’s cronies at FEMA can’t do more than give speeches.
When Mr. Perry learned the fire was arson, he said, his emotions “went from heartache to pretty damn mad.” This was his family’s home, he said, and a place where children have “slid down banisters and chased pets in the yard” for more than a century.
Mr. Perry didn’t say whether he was disappointed with the Department of Public Safety, whose troopers are responsible for safeguarding the mansion.
The mansion wasn’t just home to Perry, or W before him. Read more
The Supreme Court by a vote of 5 to 4 has just handed down a ruling that prisoners at Guantanamo do have a right under the U.S. Constitution, and in particular, the ruling restores habeas corpus to them, giving them the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts. It does not specifically invalidate the entirety of the odious MCA as far as I can tell.
Need I tell you who the five and who the four were? Read more
House and Senate leaders are still bargaining over how far to expand the government’s domestic spying powers and whether to grant retroactive legal amnesty to companies that violated federal privacy laws by helping the government spy on Americans.
But if a proposal from the top Republican from the Senate Intelligence committee is any indicator, telecom amnesty would be all but assured in any final bill. Read more
On Wednesday, Joe Lieberman published a piece on the opinion pages of WSJ which essentially accused the entirety of foreign policy positions held by the current Democratic Party of being essentially a stab in the back to the entirety of foreign policy positions of the Democratic Party of FDR, Truman, and JFK. Interestingly, LBJ wasn’t included in the litany of Democratic golden oldies. Joe may have succeeded in performing a lobotomy on himself, resulting in a weird sort of frontal stupidity, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t still wily.
Today, Joe Biden, has a superb answer to Lieberman, also in the pages of the WSJ, one in which Biden touches all the right bases, not more, not less, and then heads confidently for home plate, leaving that other Joe in the dust. Read more
How on earth did this Op Ed get published? That is what I want to know.
Here is Edward Luttwak, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member in good standing of the Washington foreign policy establishment, all dues paid up, (which probably answers my opening question), speculating in this morning’s New York Times about the security implications of an Obama presidency, for Obama himself and for the country, unembarrassed to tell us that Obama’s conversion to Christianity makes him ripe for punishment by beheading, no less, or at best, by stoning or by hanging. Read more
WASHINGTON—The FBI and multiple members of Congress said on Wednesday that Internet service providers must be legally required to keep records of their users’ activities for later review by police.
Their suggestions for mandatory data retention revive a push for potentially sweeping federal laws—which civil libertarians oppose—that flagged last year after the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the idea’s most prominent proponent.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told a House of Representatives committee that Internet service providers should be required to keep records of users’ activities for two years. Read more
Link A recently unclassified report from the Pentagon from 1998 has revealed an investigation into using laser beams for a few intriguing potential methods of non-lethal torture. Some of the applications the report investigated include putting voices in people’s heads, using lasers to trigger uncontrolled neuron firing, and slowly heating the human body to a point of feverish confusion - all from hundreds of meters away.
Wouldn’t just participating in such research constitute a war crime?
If you haven’t read these, and you like literature, fiction, and the creative use of languages, you’re missing out on treasure. From what I’m reading today, I offer this little gem.
…but what [the captured enemy soldier] had said set me thinking of the North, and I found I knew next to nothing about it.
When I had been a boy, scrubbing floors and running errands in the Citadel, the war itself had seemed almost infintely remote. I knew that most of the matrosses who manned the major batteries had taken part in it, but I knew it just as I knew that the sunlight that fell upon my hand had been to the sun. I would be a torturer, and as a torturer I would have no reason to enter the army and no reason to fear that I would be impressed into it. I never expected to see the war at the gates of [the City]…I never expected to leave the City, or even to leave [my own] quarter of the city called the Citadel.
The North…was then inconceivably remote, a place as distant as the most distant galaxy, since both were forever out of reach. Mentally, I confused it with the dying belt of tropical vegetation that lay between our own land and theirs, although I would have distinguished the two without difficulty if [my teaching Master] had asked me to in the classroom.
But of [the North] itself I had no idea. I did not know if it had great cities or none. I did not know if it was mountainous like the northern or eastern parts of our Commonwealth or as level as our pampas. I did have the impression (although I could not be sure it was correct) that is was a single land mass like our South; and most distinct of all, I had the impression of an innumerable people…an inexhaustible swarm that almost became a creature of itself, as a colony of ants does.
…to think of those millions and millions without speech, or confined to parroting proverbial phrases that must surely have long ago lost most of their meaning, was nearly more than the mind could bear. Speaking almost to myself, I said, “It must surely be a trick, or a lie, or a mistake. Such a nation could not exist.” Read more
I am not making this up, nor is it from the Onion. This is from today’s* Thursday’s Houston Chronicle. Thoughtful of them to run this just days before Christmas don’t ya think, when everybody is attending so closely to the news?
Texans seeking to escape the next hurricane or state emergency by evacuation bus will first be submitted to criminal background checks, the state’s emergency management director says.
Does this sound, um, what to pick first, a tad complicated logistically speaking? Read more
An imminent threat
