Passive Policing, Number Games Are A Greater Problem Than Police Brutality

      Police work, especially in high crime areas, can be violent. If police are a cowed force, afraid to do anything out of fear of being sued or of being accused of brutality or misconduct, then all that is left is anarchy and control of the streets by gangs and criminals.
      Police brutality is unacceptable. But so is the hands off cowed police work that is widely supported as the alternative to police brutality. Passive police and brutal police are the recipe for crime. Right now, media hype and political correctness notwithstanding, passive, uninvolved, disengaged policing is the far greater problem. There are many situations that call for the lawful use of force, almost all of which is nonlethal. But when what is lawful is considered what is excessive, all that is left is do nothingness. If police retreat in the face of violence, someone will get hurt. It may not be the police themselves, if they retreat and walk away from the situation of violence. It will be civilians that get hurt. If criminals and violent people run the streets, which too often is the case, and has been for a long time, then no one should be surprised when innocent people become the victims of the uncontrolled violence.
        Police must not meet violence with an equal level of violence, especially cops working high crime areas. Violence must be met with a greater level of force than the violence encountered if violent offenders are to be subdued. A violent offender using fists, for example, must be met with the non lethal force necessary to subdue the individual and for the cop not to get hurt. This includes the use of pepper spray, tasers, and expandable metal sticks. It is not a cops obligation to get injured , disabled or killed just to appease the public or some misguided supervisor that does not understand the appropriate and proper use of force.
       Cops are needed on patrol. They are not needed for harmful and ineffective number games. The purpose of police is not to arrest or generate some other kinds of numbers. The purpose is to serve and protect, and make arrests when necessary in the pursuit of serving and protecting.
       Those on the ground patrolling should not be supporting, on their backs, an army of bureaucrats, paper pushers and unnecessary brass and supervisors. The more cops with their feet on the ground, supervisors included, not at a desk or somewhere else, the safer it will be for cops and communities.
         Effective patrol, by car, on foot, and on bicycle at times, is the bread and butter of good police work. Unfortunately, far too many have strayed far away from this.

How Lori Lightfoot Can Change The Chicago Police Department

     If police reform focuses on police attitudes instead of structural reform, then no reform will be achieved. Whether a police department focuses on arrest numbers and other numbers instead of on patrol will determine the nature of policing and its effectiveness. Lori Lightfoot, reach out to those that know about police number games and why there is a lack of effective patrol.

     Police departments that are clout heavy sanctuaries with layers upon layers of useless, often incompetent upper brass and other positions can also be discussed.

Michael Cohen, Trump, And The Need To Improve Law Schools And Lawyers

     If Trump is everything negative that Michael Cohen says that he is, then why did Cohen work so hard to get Trump elected? What is it about the law profession that attracts some of the greediest, amoral, selfish, self serving people on the planet? Three years of law school - which many think is a lifetime of entitlement.
      Law schools need to change and teach how to be a decent human being. Politics needs to stop being dominated by lawyers.
      Only a person completely lacking a moral compass would work to get someone elected to any public office, let alone president, while believing that person to be a conman.
     

Venezuelan Misery Is About Maduro, Not Trump

       The crisis in Venezuela is about a brutal, corrupt regime that enriches itself at the expense of the impoverished people of Venezuela.
       Those that defend the Maduro regime try to make this about Trump, not Maduro. This is not about Trump or American imperialism. This is about Maduro. The United States did not create this crisis. Maduro and his predecessor did. Trump's reckless comments and tweets notwithstanding, the United States is not going to war in Venezuela. Those that use this as the pretext to support Maduro are doing nothing more than supporting the continuation of brutality, oppression and corruption.

Will Chicago's New Mayor Reward Politically Connected Incompetents?

     Chicago had a mayor that kept getting elected over and over. He created a patronage army, for which the city suffers from to this day. A legacy of cronyism, unprofessionalism, bloated bureaucracies, laziness, wastefulness, clout, the endless rewarding of politically connected incompetents that permeates every city department, from the police on down. When it was all over, the city had to sell its most precious assets, including metered street parking, for practically nothing to pay for the mess.
      Today the city has an election for a new mayor. Will the legacy continue?

Smollett And Farrakhan; One Victimized By Victimhood, The Other Shielded By It

          Smollett is a victim of victimhood. He was raised in a culture that values victimhood and that panders to it. A culture that makes a simplistic dichotomy between who is privileged and who is not, often based on skin pigmentation alone. A culture that holds one standard of conduct for some, and a much lower one for those considered victims. A culture with different expectations and standards for different groups.
           Smollett probably knew that if he pulled off what he schemed- victimized because of race and sexual preference- doors would open that never would have opened otherwise.
           Everytime a Farrakhan steps on stage, manipulating and exploiting racism to spin false narratives with the Jew as the most frequent target, he is applauded. Was Farrakhan ever a victim of race, having lived a pampered life that only victimhood, which includes freedom from responsibility, and Jew hate could afford? A hate that freed him from ever having to work a real job, and that brought fame and fortune. Farrakhan gets to lie and promote hate, shielded by victimhood. He gets to travel freely to Iran and discuss openly the evil Jew by himself and his Iranian counterparts, and the terrible United States, on tax deductible trips made possible by the generosity of the United States.
           Smollett manipulated race and hate the wrong way, so he gets to go to jail, if found guilty, and loses more than likely the lucrative career that he had.
           Farrakhan manipulates victimhood the right way, even though he has never been the victim of anything (other than the fact that his skin color places him automatically in the victimhood category, and even though few have lived lives as easy and pampered as his), and thus he gets riches and mingles with presidents.

CBD And Marijuana; Dead End Road For Many In Real Pain

      The CBD and marijuana money train is rolling, and now that big money fuels the train, the narrative is pushed that marijuana and CBD are miracles. There are hundreds of thousands of plants  in the world, many of which have never been studied. Many plants have yet to be discovered. In this age of biodiversity collapse, many plants face extinction. The lure of money from marihuana and hemp help ensure that  money is directed towards them and little else.
       Here is a typical hemp CBD conversation: CBD will cure your pain, help you sleep, reduce anxiety, and if it does not, it is your fault. You did not take it for long enough. You did not use the right brand. You did not let it build up in your system.
       For those that are helped by CBD or marihuana, God bless you. For those that wonder why the miracle plants do not work, do not despair, you are not alone. Marijuana and CBD are hyped up. They will help some (maybe the placebo effect - believe in something and sometimes it will work) harm a few (marijuana smoking, for example, can be harmful to the lungs and more), and be utterly ineffective for many in true pain.
       For those in acute and chronic high levels of pain, CBD and marijuana may very well be another dead end road in the desperate effort to seek relief. Do not believe you are alone in finding no relief, no matter what the hype declares. Wishing CBD and marijuana to be the miracles that many are pushing does not make them so. And shame on those that tell the suffering that their snake oil is the magic elixir.
      Chronic and acute pain at high levels are difficult to live with. Try CBD and marijuana if you must, but if you find it does nothing, do not think it is you at fault.
      Meanwhile, there is so much money behind the CBD and marijuana industry, they will ensure that fantasy and hype rule.
       Here is a true story. A person with a high level of pain tried CBD oil. After spending hundreds upon hundreds of dollars, hoping it would work, and after trying different brands by CBD pushers declaring only their product was the real thing, the person bought a high concentrate of CBD that cost 200 dollars. During an acute pain episode, in which the higher than recommended dose did nothing, the person finally in despair downed the whole bottle. 200 dollars worth of CBD at one gulp. And here is what happened. The person became slightly dizzy. Maybe there was a little THC in the bottle. As for the pain. Did it disappear or at least go down? Not a bit.
        Marihuana, still illegal in most places, except for medical marihuana, will make many in true pain high, but will often be another dead end road. Try these things if you need to find out for yourself. But do not be disillusioned if you discover what many in true pain already know.
         People in excruciatingly high levels of pain should not be denied the pain medicines that they very well may require just because there is abuse by other people. High levels of pain can drive someone to suicide. The war against opioid addiction must not become a war against those truly in need. Meanwhile, there needs to be research on better methods of pain relief. As already stated, there are thousands upon thousands of plants in this world. Only a small number have been researched. Many indigenous people knew what plants in their areas relieved pain. Unfortunately, most of these people and their cultures have been wiped out. But that is another story. There is a need to research plants far beyond the limited scope of hemp and marijuana. There is a critical need to save the thousands of species that face extinction. There exists in this world plants that can relieve pain without the addictive effects of opioids. They just need to be found.