The system is just fine but individuals are unworthy of assistance

Lots of stuff in my browser tabs so some of the items may not get more than a mention.



Lauren Floyd of Daily Kos reports that seven Minneapolis police officers have quit and another six are in the process. Why stay? Everybody hates the police right now. Gosh, I wonder why?



If no police what might be done instead? Meteor Blades of Kos quotes an article in Mother Jones by Delilah Friedler which says the Native American population of Minneapolis has some good ideas. Back in 1968 they created American Indian Movement Patrol because they were fed up with police violence and unlawful arrests. They now maintain neighborhood safety. This is a model that the replacement for the police can use. And it’s already in the city.

The article includes an example. An AIM team saw four white teens looting a liquor store. They stopped and soon had the youth on the ground, where they stayed until parents picked them up. The teens had come from 90 miles away.



I had reported that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchen had declared who got bailout money to be a secret. The legal justification for that secrecy … was made up. Both parties in both chambers of Congress do not like that secrecy. That’s good to hear.



Greg Kaufmann wrote for USA Today:

I’ve covered poverty in America for more than 10 years and, for me, there is a certain kind of madness that comes with the beat.

It stems primarily from witnessing profound and unnecessary human suffering caused by bad policy choices, from food to health care to policing, and a rage towards policymakers who maintain a steady drumbeat of baseless claims such as “we need more data to know what to do,” or worse, blame people for their poverty by portraying them as lazy, scheming, dependent, or anything else to suggest that the system is just fine but these individuals are broken and unworthy of assistance.

Marissa Higgins of Kos reports the United Nations calls for a ban of “conversion therapy” which is an attempt to turn gay people straight. This therapy has been denounced by the American Psychological Association and many other groups because it does significant harm to the patient who remains gay. The practice has been banned in only five countries (not the US) and in 20 states plus DC and Puerto Rico. Thanks to the UN for calling for the ban.



There is a huge heat wave over Siberia. Since January temperatures have been up to 8C (14F) higher than usual with an average 5.3C (9.5F) higher than normal. This is causing the permafrost to melt which is damaging to buildings sitting on the permafrost. That is likely why there is a 150,000 barrel oil spill from a nickel mine now flowing down rivers towards the Arctic Ocean.



Mark Sumner of Kos reports there is a Seattle Autonomous Zone in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. It’s an area without police and is an experiment in practicing community safety. It’s been in existence for about a week now and doing quite well, part street festival and part commune. It’s happening because Seattle police have been involved in repeated acts of violence.

But Fox News viewers are shown chaos in the area as it is being pillaged by armed lunatics, complete with burning buildings. The nasty guy has been tweeting that the mayor had better take back his city fast or he will. The images that Fox News and other conservative sites are showing are in stark contrast to what is actually happening. That’s because they’re making it up. Many images aren’t even of Seattle.

Against that background [of police violence], many in Seattle, including many Seattle officials, seem open to the idea of making the Capitol Hill area an ongoing experiment in operating without police, and for how shared community resources can be mixed with ordinary shops and businesses.

Conservatives aren’t upset because Seattle is burning. They’re terrified because it is not.

Kerry Eleveld of Kos reviews the various military leaders and their pushback against the nasty guy. Eleveld concludes with this good news:

Mattis and other military leaders have resolutely affirmed that the reason they joined the military in the first place was to protect the people in the streets, not antagonize them. And the protesters’ fight for fundamental fairness and equal justice is indeed a legitimate and unifying demand, as both the polls and the diversity of the protests have shown.

If Trump, in his inability to deliver that justice, tries to instead quash the cries for change rising up from the streets, he will no longer have the support of the U.S. military to do it.