TBF
TBF's JournalWhen Will They Shoot?
Lots of people are at risk on the job. But when it comes to cops, they’re mostly a danger to others.
by Peter Frase ~ Dec. 17, 2014
Defenders of the warrior cop in situations like the one in Ferguson, Missouri argue that all of these trappings of military occupation are necessary because of the oh-so-dangerous environment the police supposedly face. Policing is not the country’s safest job, to be sure. But as the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries shows, it’s far from the most dangerous. The 2012 data reports that for “police and sheriff’s patrol officers,” the Fatal Injury Rate — that is, the “number of fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers” — was 15.0. That includes all causes of death — of the 105 dead officers recorded in the 2012 data, only 51 died due to “violence and other injuries by persons or animals.” Nearly as many, 48, died in “transportation incidents,” i.e., crashing their cars.
Here are some occupations with higher fatality rates than being a cop:
Logging workers: 129.9
Fishers and related fishing workers: 120.8
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers: 54.3
Roofers: 42.2
Structural iron and steel workers: 37.0
Refuse and recyclable material collectors: 32.3
Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers: 24.3
Electrical power-line installers and repairers: 23.9
Farmers, ranchers and other agricultural managers: 22.8
Construction laborers: 17.8
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs: 16.2
Maintenance and repairs workers, general: 15.7
Much more here: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/08/when-will-they-shoot/
Ayn Rand Reviews Children’s Movies
Brilliant:
Ayn Rand Reviews Children’s Movies
By Mallory Ortberg
December 18, 2014
“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”
An industrious young woman neglects to charge for her housekeeping services and is rightly exploited for her naïveté. She dies without ever having sought her own happiness as the highest moral aim. I did not finish watching this movie, finding it impossible to sympathize with the main character. —No stars.
“Bambi”
The biggest and the strongest are the fittest to rule. This is the way things have always been. —Four stars.
“Old Yeller”
A farm animal ceases to be useful and is disposed of humanely. A valuable lesson for children. —Four stars.
Much more here: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/ayn-rand-reviews-childrens-movies?mbid=social_facebook
Oil Exploration and Cuba
*Socialist Progressives Group*
This story from August indicates that oil exploration near Cuba has been an issue in the past (just doing some searching to figure out why the US is suddenly willing to normalize relations)
No oil drilling for now off Cuba
Posted on August 19, 2014
by Timothy O’Hara, The Key West Citizen, August 16, 2014
Street in Havana, CubaFlorida Keys residents concerned about oil exploration off Cuba can breathe easier as plans for drilling have been put on hold.
Two experts on Cuban politics and oil exploration confirmed media reports that Cuba has shifted its focus away from offshore oil exploration, and instead is concentrating on renewable sources of energy and improving output from onshore wells.
A lack of interest by foreign companies for further deepwater exploration prompted the change, Reuters reported this week.
Texas-based oil and energy consultant Jorge Pinon and Dan Whittle, Cuba program director for the Environmental Defense Fund, confirmed the reports.
More here - http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/lacp/2014/08/no-oil-drilling-for-now-off-cuba/
Inside the CIA's torture chambers
*** SOCIALIST PROGRESSIVES GROUP POST ***December 11, 2014
George W. Bush and Dick Cheney (Eric Draper)George W. Bush and Dick Cheney (Eric Draper)
"THIS GOVERNMENT does not torture people." Turns out that George W. Bush's indignant pronouncement in 2007 was a bald-faced lie ...
... Likewise, despite his promise as a candidate that "If I found out that there were high officials who knowingly, consciously broke existing laws, engaged in cover-ups of those crimes with knowledge forefront, then I think a basic principle of our constitution is nobody above the law," Barack Obama has refused to take action against the torturers ...
...In response to the Senate torture report, calls for the prosecution of those who engaged in torture are growing internationally. Ben Emmerson, the UN's special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, told the Associated Press that the report shows "there was a clear policy orchestrated at a high level within the Bush administration, which allowed [it] to commit systematic crimes and gross violations of international human rights law...The fact that the policies revealed in this report were authorized at a high level within the U.S. government provides no excuse whatsoever. Indeed, it reinforces the need for criminal accountability."
But such accountability is unlikely. The Obama administration is fundamentally committed to the same project as the Bush administration--pursuing a failed "war on terror" and projecting U.S. power around the globe--so there will be no justice for those whose lives were destroyed by U.S. torturers.
Much more here: http://socialistworker.org/2014/12/11/inside-the-cias-torture-chambers
Why won't Barack Obama prosecute CIA torturers?
*** SOCIALIST PROGRESSIVES GROUP POST ***By Raf Sanchez, Washington
8:45PM GMT 12 Dec 2014
... The release of the report has been explosive. Deep rifts between the CIA and the Democratic Party have erupted into public view. Morale has slumped at the spy agency and Republicans are accusing the White House of leaving America's spooks to swing in the wind.
Imagine how much worse all of that would be if the Obama administration was actually trying to send people to prison. The President would be prosecuting the friends and colleagues of the spies he relies on every day to keep the US safe from terrorism. If the Justice Department went after George W Bush or Dick Cheney or other senior officials it would be seen as using the criminal justice system to persecute political opponents.
Mr Obama and his aides may also fear that if they initiate prosecutions for torture they may one day face charges themselves over America's deeply-divisive campaign of drone strikes ...
Much more here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/11291476/Why-wont-Barack-Obama-prosecute-CIA-torturers.html
Temporary Fix -
but better than we have right now (on Bernie Sanders Facebook page today)
I Can't Breathe
Reggie Bush and other NFL players wear Eric Garner 'I can't breathe' slogan on clothing
Actions come a week after Rams players made ‘Hands up, don’t shoot’ gestures
NBA’s Derrick Rose wore the same message on warmup T-shirt Saturday night
Story here: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/07/reggie-bush-and-other-nfl-players-wear-i-cant-breathe-slogan-on-clothing
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, left, talks with Cleveland Browns cornerback Johnson Bademosi. Photograph: Tony Dejak/AP
The System is Guilty
Amen, sister (from the Guardian) #HandsUpDontShoot #ICantBreathe #BlackLivesMatter
Black Men Killed by Police
I'm putting this here and clicking my journal so I can find it when needed. Note Armand Bennett on the bottom who is still alive, but was shot in the head (no idea what kind of condition he is in currently). It says the cop turned off the camera. So, I think when we make recommendations that cops wear cameras 24/7 - that these are cameras that do not get turned off. Smh.
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Gender: FemaleHometown: Wisconsin
Current location: Tejas
Member since: Thu Jan 17, 2008, 01:44 PM
Number of posts: 32,041
