I’m writing for tomorrow, day 71. Yesterday’s group in prison went very well. Our CoDA group doubled in size, so I have some new guys that I had never met before. We discussed making lists of people we have harmed and the importance of authenticity in our willingness to make amends. Many fear this process, because people have a tendency to guilt trip ourselves. However, done truly, it works to free us from self-crippling guilt. It’s now late evening. I’ve had some sleep but need more, as I had to be up for Store to Door to deliver groceries and put them away, so I’m more than ready for more sleep. This is tomorrow’s only article.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 5:24 (average 5:25). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Daily Kos: The Albuquerque PD has shot another victim and this time its one of their department’s own officers working undercover. The circumstances surrounding this latest shooting have yet to be released.
$60 meth bust led to shooting of officer
By Ryan Boetel
It was an undercover operation to bust two men for selling $60 worth of methamphetamine, but things didn’t go as planned.
An Albuquerque police lieutenant shot a fellow officer who was working undercover in a McDonald’s parking lot near Central and Tramway just before noon Friday.
Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said Saturday the male officer remained in critical condition at University of New Mexico Hospital. He is in the intensive care unit and has undergone multiple surgeries.
Vester went into a room at the motel and came back to the vehicle with the meth, according to the complaint.
Garcia then drove to the McDonald’s nearby and gave the bust signal. It was then that the shooting took place. Witnesses said they heard around five shots. Police said the officer was shot multiple times, but the exact number wasn’t known.
In the aftermath of the shooting, the car doors where Bailey and Vester were sitting were open, but police haven’t released details about any perceived threat or why the lieutenant opened fire. The complaint makes no mention of the suspects having a gun at the scene.
Albuquerque PD were notorious for police who abuse their power, even back in the 1970s, when I used to go there on business. If you believe that it is really not known how many times police shot their fellow officer, talk to me about buying my glacier in Miami. I’m selling it for just a few $million. They can’t use all their standard lies in this case, unless they knew he was undercover and thought he’d been talking to IA or DOJ.
From NY Times: To choose a jury in the trial of the man charged with killing 12 people in a packed Colorado movie theater, court officials mailed notices to 9,000 people in suburban Arapahoe County, casting such a wide net that residents ran about a one-in-50 chance of being tapped as potential jurors. An uncle, a father, husbands and friends of people who work in the prosecutor’s office received jury summonses. So did 12 people who are slated to be prosecution witnesses.
The numbers speak to the huge scale of a murder trial set to begin next week, more than two and a half years after a gunman sprayed bullets into a crowd of people at a midnight screening of the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises.”
The defendant, James E. Holmes, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. After multiple delays, Colorado is bracing for the start of his trial, one of the most complicated and emotionally wrenching judicial proceedings the state has faced.
Isn’t a shame that the NRA and the Republican party are not codefendants in this case?
From Upworthy: The president’s a busy guy, so he only had three and a half minutes to explain what’s up. Here’s what you need to know:
Growing up, we all hear rumors about magical places.
Fantastic places. Places where the Internet actually works well. Where you can download a movie in under a minute. Where your Wi-Fi doesn’t stop working for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Maybe you read about them in storybooks. Maybe your friends whispered about them to you on the playground. Maybe your grandma told you old tales about them as she tucked you in at night. But as you grew older, more and more people told you that it was all made up, a myth for children. Those places didn’t really exist. Can you believe we all thought they did? And you nodded and laughed about how silly it all sounded in retrospect. But secretly, deep down, you always believed.
Well, those places are real. There are places that have reliable, fantastic, extremely zippy Internet!
To all the Internet junkies, who have Republican government, and who did not get off your butt to vote, or cast a protest vote for an independent with no chance, when a Democrat could have won: You probably won’t get this. You did this to yourselves.
Cartoon:
32 Responses to “Open Thread–1/15/2014”
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4:23 average still 5:25. Interesting study in proportion.
Daily Kos – So interesting that this happens right after a police officer is actually charged in a police shooting, possibly the first one in the country. I don't think the number of times this officer was shot is the only thing that they know and aren't telling.
NY Times – I wonder whether, in a sense, the NRA is on trial – or could be even more on trial had there been a change of venue. Surely there must be parts of Colorado where it would be easier to find a jury, but possible second amendment issues may have made them unacceptable to the defense, the prosecution, or both. Just speculating, but I would love to know.
Upworthy – Yes, Republicans are not interested in economic growth. Just in ecomonic hogging. And they definitely are not interested in competition. And when it comes to anything that might make Obama look good – well, enough said.
Just an added note about jury service in Colorado – Colorado has virtually no exemptions for jury service. You don't have to be a registered voter. If you are a judge, a lawyer, a legislator, even the Governor, you must serve. If you are a convicted felon and not currently locked up, you must serve. Where I am going with this is that if you send out 9,000 summonses, picked completely at random, the only limitation being that the person's address must be in the county, you are going to get prosecution, victim, possibly defense relatives and witnesses in that net. (You will almost certainly get some convicted felons.) The people who have cause to be excused will be excused. But that's why they sent so many notices. They need a huge pool in order to find 12 who will be able to serve.
Thanks for the clarification, JD. 🙂
Daily Kos – God help and heal that poor policeman lying in hospital! I was horrified to read that – it is appalling!
The President's video was very interesting – and it was shocking to see that the three major cities in America have got pretty slow broadband – which leads me on to the hope that the President will make sure that there isn't a two-tier internet!
PS – sorry, I meant to put this in before my previous comment – I am deeply impressed about the work you do with the prisoners TC – it is hard for anyone to face up to things they have done wrong, so if your group can do that and keep doing it, then they will be streets ahead of most people. Well done to them – and to you!
So true, and so well said. Thanks for saying it.
Thank you both. My guys have a recidivism rate of under 10%, so we must be doing something right. 🙂
Sad to say, but I DO remember the very first Super Bowl. Wasn't a Packers or Chiefs fan back then – but a Chicago Bears fan – so it didn't matter a whole lot to me, other than the novelty.
Living in the KCMO Metro, I was excited when, a little over a year ago, Google picked it as one of the first areas (along with Austin & Provo) to get their fiber-optic cable. But sadly it's been a very slow process. The suburb next to me is in the Signup stage, with some construction now underway. But my 'burb isn't even on their map yet. Oh, well …
I watched it in the TV room of the Freshman dorm.
3:53
3:23 We have definitely done this puzzle before.
I don't eat trees. 🙁
But it is salad . . . ruffage . . . good for you kind of stuff!
3:54 This puzzle looked familiar.
Daily Kos ~ Will the madness never end? Every day there are more stories about shootings and they get worse and worse.
NY Times ~ Yes. It is a shame that they are not co-defendants.
Upworthy ~ All I can say is I hope it happens. I pay way to much to my provider and service is iffy at best.
Cartoon ~ I remember watching the first one.
Mine keepd creeping up. From 40 to 70 in 5 years.
Seems we have a problem here.
…and there and everywhere.
Maybe TC will develop a piece about it, but given his recent time constraints I'd hate to see it slip between the cracks:
New Yorkers overwhelming reject the recent petulant practice by the police of turning their backs on their Mayor. The latest Quinnipiac Poll shows that by a 69% – 27% margin the majority soundly disapproves of their toddler-like actions.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/new-york-city/release-detail?ReleaseID=2124
I am happy to read that New Yorkers do not approve of this ridiculous behavior.
Good!
Self-forgiveness can be harder than forgiving others. Thanks for all your good work.
Are there any major cities without abuse of police power valid concerns?
Can they all fit at the court location? Shall we have a poll guessing how many weeks jury selection will take?
I remember reading where a telecom company was threatening to sue a KS community looking at providing as a public service/utility; I hope Obama's actions help them and more. As a semi-rural resident, I feel lucky to have my slower than most of the country access because so many friends in areas around me are far worse.
Once upon a time Superbowl history seemed more controversial than Congressional history…wish I could say that now.
Amen and thanks!
They'll have a couple of hundred report up front and put the rest on standby. As they go through one group, they will pull in more at a moment's notice. And so on. Actually they often put people on standby. You call a pre-recorded message and are told "Juror numbers one through x report (tomorrow morning), numbers x + 1 through y call in at such and such time for instructions." I used to get called a lot. It has eased off. I have been on standby but not needed, though.
Daily Kos:
Albuquerque prosecutor indicts cops, immediately faces repercussions
"Keep in mind, this is all occurring in a city that has a long history of questionable police shootings,…"
This article also discusses the shooting of an undercover officer as well.
"Two Albuquerque police officers were charged with murder Monday in the killing of a homeless man in March, a shooting that led to sometimes violent protests and a federal investigation into the city's police force. (AP)"
VIDEO available of the shooting of the homeless man:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2015/01/15/albuquerque-prosecutor-indicts-cops-immediately-faces-repercussions/
NY Times;
This is going to be a long and costly trial, in the millions.
"His lawyers and parents say Mr. Holmes is willing to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison to avoid a drawn-out trial. But Mr. Brauchler has shown no sign of reconsidering. After consulting with survivors and family members of the victims, he announced in April 2013 that he would seek the death penalty, saying that for Mr. Holmes, “justice is death.”
Upworthy:
Enjoyed the video. Prez. Obama is a big fan of the internet with his beloved Blackberry. He had to surrender it when he became POTUS. Security.
"A recent analysis by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked the U.S. 23rd in a measure of price per second of downloaded content. A separate survey by metrics service Ookla put U.S. download speeds at 28th worldwide."
"Why is this? Some experts point to the cost of laying new, high-capacity fiber-optic cables across the entire U.S. But Susan Crawford, professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and author of Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age, blames a lack of competition among Internet service providers (ISPs) — specifically big cable companies."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/08/07/reviewed-high-speed-internet-column/2619497/
Cartoon:
History in the making, Super Bowl I – The start of the biggest football event in USA,
A very big money maker and a showcase of some awesome commercials along with the thrilling half-time show started with Super Bowl I. It grew over the years. Super Bowl XLVIII set the average cost of a 30 second commercial at $4 million. It is also the most watched American TV broadcast of the year. We all remember the MacIntosh "1984" ad and Budweiser Clydesdales ads.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_advertising
Thanks Jim.
I am glad you had a good day with your guys. You will integrate the new guys soon, I am sure.
Daily Kos: I hope this shooting is fully investigated and fully reported to the public. I seriously doubt that they do not know how many times the officer was shot, and probably know why he was shot. There are many decent police officers out there, too bad the scumbags ruin the reputations of those who are trying to do a good job.
NY Times: I totally agree with your last sentence. If so much fear mongering hadn't been done by the GOP and the NRA, plus Fox news, we would nothave had several shootings in the last few years. Now all these states are adding concealed weapon and open carry permits. OUr country has gone insane.
UPworthy: I hope it happens. I have fairly decent internet service. My sister, who lives ten minutes away and has a different server does not. There is poor internet service in most of Kentucky, but the first think our legislators dealt with in their recent session was abortion restrictions. Gotta keep those women in their place.
Cartoon: I well remember that, who knew it would be come the behemoth that it has?
Thanks. They already are intergated. We have blacks, latinos, native americans and whites/ 😉
hahahha
Puzzle — 3:23 We have definitely done this puzzle before.
Daily Kos — As I read, I thought the shooter was a rookie. But to find out that the shooter was a Lieutenant, there is definitely something more going on. An officer at that level would normally know about undercover operations, unless of course it was one being run by IA or the DOJ. I hope the officer shot recovers and the Lieutenant goes to prison for attempted murder (murder if he dies). Won't he have fun in the pen with all the fellows he has helped to put away.
NY Times — "Isn’t a shame that the NRA and the Republican party are not codefendants in this case?" I agree! They should be codefendants. I heard on our news that the defence asked for another postponement because they needed more time to prepare and the judge shut that down quickly with a resounding 'no'.
Upworthy — Why is it that everything in the US seems to come down to money? Money before people! Having faster internet has so many benefits, economic and social. It just beggars belief from this Canuck.
Cartoon — I did not watch it because televised football was too boring to me. In January I would not be playing football but later in the spring or fall, I definitely was playing football with the neighbourhood boys. Hey, I could throw better than them.
And with your feet, kick better too!! 😉