Scottish police officers simulated a riot at the Jackton training center in Glasgow, Scotland, where police leaders from throughout the United States gathered to discuss department tactics.
Police Turning to UK to Learn De-Escalation
“A difference long curious to Americans stands out: Most British police officers are unarmed, a distinction particularly pronounced here in Scotland, where 98 percent of the country’s officers do not carry guns. For them, calming a situation through talk, rather than escalating it with weapons, is an essential policing tool, and one that brought a delegation of top American police officials to this town 30 miles northeast of Glasgow.”
Adams v. US ex rel. McCann
There is a very interesting quote in Adams v. US ex rel. McCann, 317 U.S. 269 (1942) that “What were contrived as protections for the accused should not be turned into fetters. [. . .] To deny an accused a choice of procedure in circumstances in which he, though a layman, is as capable as any lawyer of making an intelligent choice, is to impair the worth of great Constitutional safeguards by treating them as empty verbalisms.” (Id., at 280). The odd thing is that Adams is like a snake eating its tail. It’s not very useful in and of itself, but the phrasing is righteously potent.
On Peace and Conflict
Paris Attacks
In view of the recent Paris attack, I say that we are within 100 years of a world religion and world government.
Ricardo Arjona – Minutos
Francis Schaeffer: Manifesto
On Rising Again
I just came across an old note to remind me: “Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again.” Micah 7:8
Romans 8:28
This morning I was listening to WAY-FM while showering and their verse of the day was Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
This verse is so often quoted as a platitude, but is that really the correct syntax?
I know that Greek and Hebrew scholars toil thoroughly at deriving the right balance of literal and conceptual meaning, but maybe they too are swayed by their desire to polish a bit. Although considerably less unpalatable, maybe a more realistic syntax is “And to those who are called, we accordingly know that God causes all all things to work together for the good of His purpose.”
Realistically speaking, isn’t it a bit egotistical to think that our benefit is somehow more significant than God’s master plan?
Lewis v. New Orleans, 415 U.S. 130 (1974)
Back in the 1970s, Louisiana had a statute making it “unlawful and a breach of the peace for any person wantonly to curse or revile or to use obscene or opprobrious language toward or with reference to any member of the city police while in the actual performance of his duty.” After much procedural harangue that included affirmation by the Louisiana Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court held that such statute “is not susceptible of application to speech, although vulgar or offensive, that is protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15, 18-22 (1971); Terminiello v. Chicago, 337 U.S. 1, 4-5 (1949); Gooding v. Wilson, supra, at 520. Since [the law], as construed by the Louisiana Supreme Court, is susceptible of application to protected speech, the section is constitutionally overbroad and therefore is facially invalid.” Read the full opinion on Google Scholar.