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my $miles = 250 * 1024

Posted by fliptop on Saturday July 09 2016, @08:22PM (#1953)
6 Comments
/dev/random

Hells yeah. Anybody beat that w/ their daily driver?

White Jacketed Police

Posted by frojack on Friday July 08 2016, @12:07AM (#1951)
4 Comments
Security

Maybe its time to run our Police like the British, with predominantly unarmed officers, with fire-arms teams readily available when needed.

So what is a few criminals turn runner and get away because some physically un-fit cops can't chase them down? Most criminals get away, then get found out later.

Maybe Unarmed officers would wear WHITE jacketed uniforms, or maybe white sleeves, and wouldn't carry any weapons (and that includes no multi-shock Tasers) other than a small self-defense baton. (Something that leaves a distinctive trace-able mark). They could still wear bullet/stab proof vests if desired.

They'd get defensive martial arts training and conflict deescalation training instead of fire arms training.

This would not, as some claim, result in mass killing of police, because the white jacket would make it clear they are unarmed and present no immediate physical threat.

Even if they come to arrest someone, they are not likely to induce fear and loathing Most police effect most arrests without ever pulling a gun. Most arrests are not for crimes that killing someone is an acceptable outcome.

Even among thieves and drug dealers there's no glory in shooting an unarmed man. The unarmed white shirted police officer would be as safe as the ticket writing "meter maids" of the 50's who were never armed.

Armed apprehension teams could be dispatched when the need presented itself.

Why is it a 5' 2" female unarmed British constable can effect an arrest of a pub brawler, but American ex-military, 6'4" cops can't issue a speeding ticket without a side arm?

It works elsewhere.

The Sex Scandal Blowing Up Oakland's Police Department

Posted by takyon on Friday July 01 2016, @11:55PM (#1944)
5 Comments
News

http://www.vice.com/read/oakland-underage-sex-work-scandal

Not so long ago it was possible to point to Oakland as a police reform success story. In the last decade, the cops have gone from conducting an average of 3,000 searches without probable cause every year to 280 in 2015. Officers are now required to wear body cameras. After decades of abuse, violence, and corruption, the police department seemed to finally be changing.

In the last few weeks, though, a scandal has emerged that threatens to tear the department apart. In brief, 14 Oakland police officers are currently under investigation for sleeping with an 18-year-old sex worker—three of them when she was 17, thus allegedly committing rape and sex trafficking under California law. The woman, using the alias Celeste Guap, told the East Bay Express earlier this month that she was having sex with the cops for money and protection; she had been given a friend's arrest history and information about undercover prostitution stings.

Hints of the scandal surfaced last year, after a suicide note written one of the officers involved, Brendan O'Brien, mentioned Guap, prompting an investigation. But the higher-ups allegedly dragged their feet, and the supposed cover-up has only widened the sordid scandal has since expanded. (According to Guap's later comments to the media, she's actually had sex with "more than 30 officers" from multiple agencies around the Bay Area.)

The shocking and salacious events were the catalyst to Oakland appointing four police chiefs in two weeks. Initially, Sean Whent, who was promoted to top cop at the end of a similarly messy 2013 shuffle that saw three new police chiefs in three days, got canned because he allegedly knew about Guap sleeping with Oakland cops but didn't press for a speedy and public investigation.

Your prayers, please

Posted by fliptop on Saturday June 25 2016, @02:31PM (#1935)
5 Comments
/dev/random

As you may have heard, West Virginia had some terrible weather this past week. The death toll is in the mid 20's as many areas experienced torrential rains and high water, including an 8 year-old Wheeling boy who drowned when he slipped and fell into a raging creek.

I'll be praying that the grieving have perseverance, the emergency and rescue workers have fortitude, and those who will return to nothing where their everything used to be have courage.

Don't Blame Life Extension for Right-Wing Fox News

Posted by takyon on Thursday June 23 2016, @10:44PM (#1933)
10 Comments
/dev/random

A funny article I found on NBF:

Do not "blame" life extension for Rupert Murdoch and Fox News, If Murdoch died Fox would still be right wing

Which is a response to: Bonus Level: The World's Most Powerful Humans are Getting Another 10-15 Years on Earth

A common argument against life extension is that it would allow the elites to live indefinitely, accruing more power, wealth, and influence for themselves. To that I say: If you're so worried about it, stop waiting for them to die, and start killing them.

A Classy "Thanks for Nothing"

Posted by fliptop on Wednesday June 15 2016, @01:19AM (#1925)
4 Comments
/dev/random

The past 6 weeks or so has been great for hockey if you live in or near the Pittsburgh area. Not only did the Penguins just win their 4th Stanley Cup, but their A affiliate farm team, the Wilkes-Barry Baby Pens went deep in the playoffs, and my hometown Wheeling Nailers, the Pen's AA affiliate, made it to the Kelly Cup finals (even though they did lose to the defending champs).

Hockey is a pretty brutal sport. Not only is fighting allowed (to a point), it's used as a tool to keep the game from getting out of hand. Think about it - the speed, confinement of boards and glass, and the fact that it's played on ice make it very easy to purposely injure another player. Fighting reminds players who take too many liberties that there's a price to pay for going too far.

Off the ice, however, the players are among the classiest in professional sports. It isn't unusual to watch a press conference and hear players answer questions in more than one language. A leader like Sidney Crosby will never badmouth other players or the coaches. Compare that to other sports where you can easily see the players/coaches have a huge chip on their shoulders about whatever is bothering them, and I sometimes struggle to understand what they're saying even though English is their primary language.

On Monday, the day after winning the Stanley Cup, Phil Kessel, the leading playoff goal scorer for the Pens, took out a full page ad in the Toronto Star thanking the fans for running him out of town last year. He said otherwise, he never would have had an opportunity to play for a team that knows what the hell they're doing.

Kessel also donated $50,000 to a Toronto hot-dog vendor he frequented when he was on the Maple Leafs. Classy.

"Bama Camera" Arrested After 1st Amendment Audit Call Flood

Posted by takyon on Tuesday June 14 2016, @01:11AM (#1924)
7 Comments
News

Alabama ACLU and Newspaper Criticize Police for Arresting Citizen Journalist by Bama Camera

The Alabama police department that had a man arrested on a felony charge of jamming up their emergency lines – even though he did not make a single call – is now taking heat from the local ACLU as well as the local newspaper.

But the Wetumpka Police Department is still sticking to its guns, threatening to arrest anybody else who posts their non-emergency phone number of (334) 567-5321.

They claim that by calling that number, it somehow leads turns into a 911 call, which they claim makes it difficult to respond to actual emergencies.

But all they were doing were exercising their First Amendment right to petition for redress of grievances by complaining about how officers ripped a camera out of Keith Golden’s hands for recording the police department from public property.

First Amendment Audit (Wetumpka PD) "I don't care about your 1st Amendment Rights"

Arrest Update by Bama Camera
**UPDATE**FPS-USMS-BAM CAMERA by News Now Houston

Teaching asylum seekers how to interact with women

Posted by takyon on Wednesday June 08 2016, @11:21PM (#1917)
6 Comments
Career & Education

Too spicy for Soylent: Norway teaches migrants about Western women

Should Western relationship norms be taught to migrants? The BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme attended a controversial class in Norway that aims to teach asylum seekers how to interact with women.

"When you move to another country, there will be different cultural codes compared to what you are used to," says instructor Margareth Berg. "And that will be codes that are not written or spoken about. Somebody has got to tell them what is normal behaviour."

In 2009, a spate of rapes by migrant men in Norway prompted the introduction of the controversial classes for refugees. Incidents of mass sexual assault by gangs of men in the German city of Cologne at the new year shone a light on this approach. Now, other European countries are thinking of introducing similar training.

The class in Haugesund, in west Norway, is no longer just about rape prevention. Now, it includes discussions around communicating with the opposite sex, boundaries, domestic violence, and what to do if you witness a sexual assault. Public awareness videos about rape are also shown.

It lasts four hours, and is not compulsory - although many refugees take it as part of a series of courses offered to new arrivals, including language courses and help with finding work. In this class, most are Syrian, but there are also some Iraqis and Afghans.

Desperate, Dirty Millennials

Posted by takyon on Tuesday June 07 2016, @12:08PM (#1915)
8 Comments
/dev/random

(NSFW) http://www.vice.com/read/theres-now-a-porn-genre-about-how-broke-millennials-are-456

Vice, keeping a hand on the chest to feel the millennial pulse.

Hillary Clinton Pressed Countries to Embrace Fracking

Posted by takyon on Tuesday May 24 2016, @04:17AM (#1898)
3 Comments
News

Hillary Clinton’s Energy Initiative Pressed Countries to Embrace Fracking, New Emails Reveal

BACK IN APRIL, just before the New York primary, Hillary Clinton’s campaign aired a commercial on upstate television stations touting her work as secretary of state forcing “China, India, some of the world’s worst polluters” to make “real change.” She promised to “stand firm with New Yorkers opposing fracking, giving communities the right to say ‘no.'”

The television spot, which was not announced and does not appear on the official campaign YouTube page with most of Clinton’s other ads, implied a history of opposition to fracking, here and abroad. But emails obtained by The Intercept from the Department of State reveal new details of behind-the-scenes efforts by Clinton and her close aides to export American-style hydraulic fracturing — the horizontal drilling technique best known as fracking — to countries all over the world.