July 25, 2020

Criminals do impersonate police officers to commit crimes

Tips for Protecting You from Law Enforcement Impersonators :

Those who impersonate police officers erode the public’s trust in law enforcement and may endanger unsuspecting people. There are several tips you can remember to protect yourself during a traffic stop while helping your police officers do their jobs.

•Make sure it is a marked police unit. If it is not a marked unit, the emergency lights should be built in and are usually not a temporary light placed on the vehicle.
•Try to stop in a well-lit area or a location where there are a lot of people present.
•Turn on your emergency flashers but don’t turn off your car.
•Do not get out of the vehicle to meet the officer. Officers usually don’t like this anyway.
•Lock your door.
•Look for a uniform, official department jacket, and other equipment used by police officers for the performance of their duties.
•If the officer is in plainclothes, look for identifying clothing and equipment. If unsure, explain to the “officer” that you are unsure about the situation and ask them to display official department identification and badge. Ask where they work and if you can contact their dispatch center to confirm their identity. You may also request a marked patrol unit respond.
•Pay attention to what they are asking. Most officers will advise you of the reason for the stop and request your driver’s license, registration, and proof of insurance.
•If they immediately tell you to get out of the car without any preliminary questions, be suspicious.
•Trust your instincts. If they don’t seem to be a real police officer they are probably not.

from https://www.canbypolice.com/docs/police_impersonators.pdf with my emphasis

May 16, 2020

How many people do you propose to allow to suffocate to death of Covid 19

as an acceptable cost of re-opening businesses? We already have over 85,000 deaths, how many more are ethically acceptable?

Any opening strategy will result in further spread of a deadly infection for which we have no effective treatment.

How many should be allowed to die? Would you be willing to be one of those? Why not? Is it because someone else's death is acceptable but not yours?

What do we say to the family and loved ones who died so the economy can open? Do the dead get a posthumous medal for their sacrifice, as we do with members of the military who give their lives for their country or do we just say "too bad, I'm alive and you aren't"?

The phrasing of the question as "under what conditions should businesses re-open" completely evades the ethical issue of killing tens of thousands of people in the process.

I find it absolutely horrific that we are speaking in these terms. I cannot believe we have come to this.

WE ARE ACCEPTING THE DEATH OF TENS OR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF LIVING PEOPLE TO AVOID "A HUGE BURDEN ON SMALL BUSINESSES AND THE WORKING CLASS". WHAT KIND OF MORAL MONSTER CAN EVEN SUGGEST THIS?

May 11, 2020

Dead baboons and lockdown protests

The book "A Primate's memoir" tells the story of a researcher studying the behavior of baboons on East Africa. I recall one story in particular.

A local safari lodge was serving steaks from cattle infected with tuberculosis. The meat scraps were left out and found by the baboons, who considered them a delicacy. Consistent with baboon social rules, the dominant (most aggressive) males consumed the scraps themselves. The resulting outbreak of tuberculosis kills off these most aggressive "alpha" males.

The result changes the social dynamics of the troop. The surviving baboons were the females and less aggressive "beta" male baboons.

The following quote from a research paper summarizes the results:

In his book A Primate's Memoir, Sapolsky studied the activities and lifestyle of the Forest Troop to explore the relationship between stress and disease. In typical baboon fashion, the males behaved badly, angling either to assume or maintain dominance with higher ranking males or engaging in bloody battles with lower ranking males, which often tried to overthrow the top baboon by striking tentative alliances with fellow underlings. Females were often harassed and attacked. Internecine feuds were routine. Through a heartbreaking twist of fate, the most aggressive males in the Forest Troop were wiped out. The males, which had taken to foraging in an open garbage pit adjacent to a tourist lodge, had contracted bovine tuberculosis, and most died between 1983 and 1986. Their deaths drastically changed the gender composition of the troop, more than doubling the ratio of females to males, and by 1986 troop behavior had changed considerably as well; males were significantly less aggressive.

After the deaths, Sapolsky stopped observing the Forest Troop until 1993. Surprisingly, even though no adult males from the 1983–1986 period remained in the Forest Troop in 1993 (males migrate after puberty), the new males exhibited the less aggressive behavior of their predecessors. Around this time, Sapolsky and Share also began observing another troop, called the Talek Troop. The Talek Troop, along with the pre-TB Forest Troop, served as controls for comparing the behavior of the post-1993 Forest Troop. The authors found that while in some respects male to male dominance behaviors and patterns of aggression were similar in both the Forest and control troops, there were differences that significantly reduced stress for low ranking males, which were far better tolerated by dominant males than were their counterparts in the control troops. The males in the Forest Troop also displayed more grooming behavior, an activity that's decidedly less stressful than fighting. Analyzing blood samples from the different troops, Sapolsky and Share found that the Forest Troop males lacked the distinctive physiological markers of stress, such as elevated levels of stress-induced hormones, seen in the control troops.

From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC387823/

I think of this story whenever I hear about aggressive macho types refusing to social distance, refusing to wear masks, attacking pandemic restrictions on gatherings and otherwise flaunting their disregard for Covid-19 risks.

Maybe *they* are culling the herd just as the aggressive baboon males did.