SL 710

~ Laura

Hi all. Back again. Here’s what’s on my radar today:

I put out a request for recommendations for good books on cities on twitter and Facebook. Evicted was the winner, so I’m reading that right now.

I’ve been living in this utility jacket from Old Navy this week, along with colorful scarves. With snow predicted AGAIN for this weekend, it’s not quite spring here yet, but I’m pretending.

Rachel Maddow is now the highest rated cable TV host, beating out Sean Insanity. Is this a glimpse into the next presidential race?

Please appreciate the new family section at the Atlantic.

Published by Laura

14 thoughts on “SL 710”

  1. Laura said,

    “Please appreciate the new family section at the Atlantic.”

    The Atlantic does have a very strong history of discussing family issues. It’s nice that they’ve formalized it.

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  2. Do you mean books on current cities? I think Cronon’s Nature’s Metropolis is one of the hundred most interesting books I have ever read, but it is a history book.

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  4. On a different topic:

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/04/stephon-clark-shooting-police-should-show-more-discipline-restraint/

    David French talks about his experiences giving US troops shoot/don’t shoot guidance in Iraq during a deployment that started in 2007:

    “It was a tough deployment, one that ultimately earned my squadron the Valorous Unit Award. In the months we were in Diyala, our troopers faced constant attacks. IEDs claimed lives. Men died to ambushes. Indirect fire was a frequent threat to our combat outposts. Our troopers fought pitched battles in the streets, called in air strikes, fired thousands of artillery rounds, and killed, wounded, and captured dozens of terrorists. By the end of the deployment, they’d reclaimed thousands of square kilometers from al-Qaeda and left it a broken, spent force. Do you know how many innocent civilians we killed in that entire deployment, which spanned hundreds of engagements with the enemy? Exactly two. One to small-arms fire and one to a wayward artillery shell.”

    “Over the past three years, as the issue of police shootings has come to periodically dominate American discourse, I’ve noticed a disturbing pattern. While many controversial police shootings are lawful and justifiable, many others would be surprising to see in a war zone, much less in the streets of America’s cities. Some of the names come easily to mind — Philando Castile, Daniel Shaver, Walter Scott, and (most recently) Stephon Clark.”

    “But rather than emphasizing odds, probabilities, and patterns, training sometimes fills cops’ minds with ideas like, “The worst can always happen” or, “Any encounter can go bad.” These statements are true, but incomplete.”

    “While each situation can potentially turn deadly, it’s a simple fact that some kinds of encounters are more fraught with peril than others, and greater inherent peril demands greater latitude for police use of force.”

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  5. We are in deep gray gloom here (with unpredictable sun breaks, like yesterday’s, which has us thinking that the weather has turned — I should know that it hasn’t, from past years, but I have season amnesia). But flowers are blooming galore so it does feel spring-like.

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  7. https://mobile.twitter.com/jgrantaddison/status/981950304517283840

    I don’t know what that link will pop up, but there’s a really cute discussion here of the Trumpiness of Disney princesses. Some candidates:

    Grant Addison said, “Ariel is a protectionist fool who gives up her entire family, society, and belief system after some charismatic stranger wanders through town. Can also add makes a Faustian bargain for something sort-term personal gain.”

    “We filed Belle as a probable Trump voter representing the should-have-known-better Establishment wing who foolishly thought they could change the nature of the beast and also saw a way to get out of their current put-upon predicament.”

    Jonathan Last said, “And Ariel? She’s a transgressive brat with a thing for dangerous guys who gets off on shocking her dad. She thinks she’s smart enough to make all the best deals, even though she gets owned by craftier people.”

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  8. So, yesterday it was hard for me to stop hitting “refresh” on the news sites because so many bombs kept dropping. Conservatism has reduced itself to standing athwart history and shouting threats against children who barely avoided being murdered while the administration falls apart.

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      1. I would really like to open the paper in the morning and not feel like I need to put “Buy canned food” on my calendar.

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