Wednesday Open Thread

7 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. I fear actual clowns, not the orange one

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2. Challenging our ignorance requires vulnerability.

   If we are afraid, we won't be vulnerable.

   Fear keeps us ignorant.

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3. “Democrats” means a variety of things …. and Gov. Jerod Polis has his own thing.

   Colorado Sun:  Jared Polis is headed for another showdown with Democrats at the Colorado Capitol over union issues

   Gov. Jared Polis is once again on a collision course with fellow Democrats in the state legislature and the Colorado labor movement.

   The governor quickly pooh-poohed a piece of legislation unveiled earlier this month that unions say will be their priority when state lawmakers reconvene at the Capitol in January. The bill has the backing of top legislative Democrats, as well as the chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party. 

   The divide is likely to inflame tensions that flared when Polis vetoed three of the labor movement’s bills passed during the 2024 legislative session.

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   1. What bothers me is you have to get ot the 9th paragraph to find out the issue they disagree on. The governor should be in disagreement with pretty much every interest group at times. What's key is the specific issue. Yet the article makes the big issue being they have a disagreement.

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4. If you're going to read one blog entry today – this is the one to read!

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   1. One of my pet peeves, David.  In over 50 years of academic debate, there have been numerous topics centered on crime and policing.  One element has been consistent — Republican politicians and conservative think tanks ALWAYS pump out material designed to highlight "crime is up."  The result is to inflame the populace and seek power to increase policing and incarceration and decrease limitations on police methods and punishments. 

      Anecdotes and observations are one form of proof.  You seeing a dine & dash episode is no doubt reflective of a trend.  And no one tells the story of seeing a scruffy patron paying for a meal.  So I tend to discount my personal experience in favor of more rigorously gathered research.  And the research is clear:  Some crime statistics are substantially down.

      The Quarterly Uniform Crime Report (Q2), January-June 2024, provides a preliminary look at crime trends for January through June 2024 compared to January through June 2023. A comparison of data from agencies that voluntarily submitted at least three or more common months of data for January through June 2023 and 2024 indicates reported violent crime decreased by 10.3%. Murder decreased by 22.7%, rape decreased by 17.7%, robbery decreased by 13.6%, and aggravated assault decreased by 8.1%. Reported property crime also decreased by 13.1%.

      As Rachel Maddow's show pointed out

      To be sure, the current calendar year is ongoing, but there’s reason to take the FBI data seriously: It’s not only encouraging, it’s also in line with similar research from the Justice Department and the Major Cities Chiefs Association, both of which published separate findings pointing to reduced crime rates.

      Brennan Center takes a longer view:

      Here are the facts on crime. Starting in the early 1990s, crime dropped rapidly in the United States. The causes were complex — owing much to improving economic conditions and innovations in policing strategy. Following a decades-long decline, violent crime rose during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, President Trump’s last year in office, murder rates climbed by nearly 30 percent and assault rates by more than 10 percent.

      That's the first part of my peeve.  The next, as Politico wrote last March

      The country’s biggest, bluest cities are embracing tough-on-crime policies that would have been politically heretical just a few years ago — ratcheting up criminal penalties and expanding police power amid fear and anger over a rash of brazen crimes like carjackings and retail theft.

      These Democrat-led policy changes mark a stark reversal from 2020, when the growing influence of progressives fueled a national effort to curb police powers and scale back law enforcement budgets following the murder of George Floyd.

      Democrats have varying responses to crime.  There is no simple, clear, and uniform message.  That may be a problem for winning elections — but on the whole, I prefer the complexity among Democrats rather than the simple, clear, uniform and deceptive message of the 2024 Republicans.

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5. I really think Trump should make the bag over his head his new schtick.

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